Smart television and method for displaying graphical user interface of television screen shot

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure is intended to provide a smart television and a method for displaying a graphical user interface of a television screen shot. The method includes while a display device is displaying currently-played content, in response to receiving an input instruction for capturing a screen shot, acquiring a screen shot image comprising at least one object; and while the display device continues playing, displaying a screen shot content display layer on the display device. The screen shot content display layer is configured to present the screen shot image. The method further includes in response to receiving an input for selecting an object or a keyword matched with the object, displaying recommended content related to the object; in response to receiving a selection for a different object on the screen shot image by moving a focus frame, updating presentation of recommended content based on the selected different object.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.18/067,575, filed on Dec. 16, 2022, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 17/380,385, filed on Jul. 20, 2021, nowissued as U.S. Pat. No. 11,558,578 on Jan. 17, 2023, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/872,660, filed onMay 12, 2020, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 11,102,441 on Aug. 24, 2021,which is a continuation of International Application No.PCT/CN2018/115482, filed on Nov. 14, 2018, which claims priority toChinese Patent Application No. 201711381692.9, filed on Dec. 20, 2017and entitled “Smart Television and Method for Displaying Graphical UserInterface of Television Screen Shot”, priority to Chinese PatentApplication No. 201810141211.5, filed on Feb. 11, 2018 and entitled“Smart Television and Method for Displaying Graphical User Interface ofTelevision Screen Shot”, priority to Chinese Patent Application No.201810141949.1, filed on Feb. 11, 2018 and entitled “Smart Televisionand Method for Displaying Graphical User Interface of Television ScreenShot”, and priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201810141968.4,filed on Feb. 11, 2018 and entitled “Smart Television and Method forDisplaying Graphical User Interface of Television Screen Shot”, all ofwhich are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a display receiving terminal, and moreparticularly relates to a smart television and a method for displaying agraphical user interface of a television screen shot.

BACKGROUND

A smart television generally focuses on an online interactive media, anInternet television and an on-demand streaming media, instead of atraditional broadcast media, and it can provide users with sufficientcontent and services, and TV manufacturers are committed to developingvarious functions that are easy for use by users to enhance the useexperience of a product.

Thus, it is particularly important to provide existing smart TVs withsimpler and more intuitive features, and to seamlessly connect userinterfaces and visual content links according to user habits to browseand/or perform various functions of smart television.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure provides a smart television to meet requirementsfor a more intuitive user interface and a seamless user interactionfunction. This content describes these improvement function demandsthrough all its aspects, examples and/or configurations. In addition,although this content is described according to exemplary examples, itshould be understood that claims can be made respectively to all theaspects of the present disclosure. This content can provide manyadvantages which are determined specifically according to specificaspects, examples and/or configurations.

First of all, the present disclosure provides a smart television,including: a display; a memory; and a processor in communication withthe memory and the display. The processor is configured to: in responseto an input instruction for capturing a screen shot, display a set ofoption bars while displaying the currently-played content on the displayscreen, wherein the option bars are used to display an image thumbnailof the screen shot and content-related recommended items identified onthe basis of the image of the screen shot, and/or user input interfacesfor operations in association with the screen shot.

Optionally, the recommended items include keywords matched withcorresponding content identified on the basis of the image of the screenshot, recommended descriptions related to the keywords, and/or sourcesor types of the items.

Optionally, the option bar is associated with a service or applicationcorresponding to a silo according to its content. The content of theoption bar is selected to activate the service or application.

Optionally, the service or application is any one of a webpageapplication, a video application, a TV program application and ashopping application.

Optionally, any one of a webpage text content recommendation, a video ondemand recommendation, a shopping webpage link and an applicationrecommendation is available.

Secondly, the present disclosure provides a method for displaying agraphical user interface of a television screen shot. The methodincludes: in response to an input instruction for capturing a screenshot, displaying a set of option bars while displaying thecurrently-played content on the display screen, wherein the option barsare used to display an image thumbnail of the screen shots andcontent-related recommended items identified on the basis of the imageof the screen shot, and/or user input interfaces for operations inassociation with the screen shot.

Optionally, the recommended items include keywords matched withcorresponding content identified on the basis of the image of the screenshot, recommended descriptions related to the keywords, and/or sourcesor types of the items.

Optionally, the option bar is associated with a service or applicationcorresponding to a silo according to its content. The content of theoption bar is selected to activate the service or application.

Optionally, the service or application is any one of a webpageapplication, a video application, a TV program application and ashopping application.

Optionally, any one of a webpage text content recommendation, a video ondemand recommendation, a shopping webpage link and an applicationrecommendation is available.

Thirdly, the present disclosure provides a smart television, including adisplay; a memory; and a processor in communication with the memory andthe display. The processor is configured to: in response to an inputinstruction for capturing a screen shot, display a graphical userinterface that includes a currently-played content display layer and ascreen shot content display layer on the display. The screen shotcontent display layer includes a screen shot display bar configured todisplay an image acquired from a current screen shot, a screen shotsharing instruction bar, and a display bar for QR code informationgenerated from the screen shot.

Optionally, the screen shot sharing instruction bar is configured toshare the screen shot to a terminal connected with the smart television.

Optionally, the QR code information and the screen shot aresynchronously uploaded to a third-party server.

Optionally, the processor is further configured to: in response to aninput instruction for sharing the screen shot, when it is determinedthat the terminal with which the television established connection isnot connected with the smart television, the QR code information of thescreen shot image is output, so that the terminal can scan the QR codeinformation to acquire the screen shot image from the third-partyserver.

Optionally, the processor is further configured to: in response to aninstruction for sharing the screen shot, when it is determined that theterminal connected with which the television established connection isconnected with the smart television, the screen shot is transmitted tothe terminal according to a transmission protocol between the terminaland the smart television.

Fourthly, the present disclosure provides a method for displaying agraphical user interface of a television screen shot. The methodincludes: in response to an input instruction for capturing a screenshot, displaying a graphical user interface that includes acurrently-played content display layer and a screen shot content displaylayer on a display. The screen shot content display layer includes ascreen shot display bar configured to display an image acquired from acurrent screen shot, and a plurality of option bars for indicatinginputting control instructions in association with the screen shot for auser.

Optionally, the method further comprises: in response to an instructionfor selecting a screen shot images, displaying images acquired from aplurality of continuous screen shots. In response to a selection of animage among the images, the selected screen shot image is stored in apreset image storage region.

Optionally, in response to a control instruction for sharing a screenshot, when it is determined that the television device is connected withan electronic terminal through a network, the television device sendsinformation that indicates a screen shot is available for push to theelectronic terminal.

In response to an instruction that the electronic terminal isacknowledged to receive the screen shot, the television device sends thescreen shot to the electronic terminal.

Optionally, in response to a control instruction for sharing a screenshot, when it is determined that the television device is not connectedwith an electronic terminal through a network, the television devicedisplays QR code information of the screen shot image.

Optionally, after the electronic terminal scans the QR code information,the screen shot image is obtained from a third-party server where thetelevision device uploads the screen shot image.

Fifthly, the present disclosure provides a method for displaying agraphical user interface of a television screen shot. The methodincludes: in response to an input instruction for capturing a screenshot, displaying a graphical user interface that includes acurrently-played content display layer and a screen shot content displaylayer on a display. The screen shot content display layer includes aplurality of option bars for displaying an image acquired from a currentscreen shot, and a webpage recommended text and/or images related to thecontent identified on the basis of the image of the screen shot.

Optionally, the content displayed by the option bars of webpagerecommendations includes an identifier of a search source, a descriptionof the recommended text and/or images, and/or a subject or keyword of asearch result.

Optionally, in response to a selection for an option bar among theoption bars of webpage recommendations from a user, one or moreinformation windows float above of the screen shot content displaylayer. The information window is configured to display detailed contentof the selected option bar.

Optionally, in response to a selection for an option bar among theoption bars of webpage recommendations from a user, a plurality ofinformation windows float above the screen shot content display layer.The plurality of information windows are configured to display aplurality of different pieces of webpage information.

Optionally, in response to a user's selection for an information windowamong the information windows, an information child window floats on theplurality of information windows, and the child window is configured todisplay detailed content of the selected information window.

Sixthly, the present disclosure provides a method for displaying agraphical user interface of a television screen shot. The methodincludes: in response to an input instruction for capturing a screenshot, displaying a graphical user interface that includes acurrently-played content display layer and a screen shot content displaylayer on a display. The screen shot content display layer includes aplurality of option bars used to display webpage recommendation profilesrelated to the content identified on the basis of the image of screenshot.

Optionally, the webpage recommendation profiles include texts and/orimages.

Optionally, in response to a user's selection for an option bar amongthe option bars, at least one information window floats above the screenshot content display layer. The information window is configured todisplay detailed content of the selected option bar.

Optionally, the content displayed in the information window contains awebsite logo bar that indicates a content source, a related keyword bar,an entry detail bar, and/or an album bar for recommending relatedpictures.

Optionally, the entry detail bar includes a keyword overview, basicinformation and a text.

Seventhly, the present disclosure provides a method for displaying agraphical user interface of a television screen shot. The methodincludes: in response to an input instruction for capturing a screenshot, displaying a graphical user interface that includes acurrently-played content display layer and a screen shot content displaylayer on a display. The screen shot content display layer includes aplurality of option bars, at least one of which is configured to displaya program guide of TV program channels identified on the basis of theimage of the screen shot.

Optionally, the content displayed in the program guide option barincludes: names or TV station logos that mark TV program channels, and athumbnail image of the program guide.

Optionally, in response to a user's selection of the program guideoption bar, at least one information window floats above the screen shotcontent display layer. The information window is configured to display adetailed list of the program guide.

Optionally, at least one program in the detailed list of the programguide include an icon for scheduling programs. In response to aselection on the icon, a program is scheduled.

Optionally, in response to a user's selection for a program in thedetailed list, the video on demand application is activated, and thepresentation of the information window is updated or a child informationwindow is displayed overlaying on the information window, so as topresent available previous or related episodes of the selected programon the video on demand application.

Optionally, in response to a user's selection for a program among theprevious or related episodes, the currently-played content display layeris switched to play the selected program from the video on demand.

Eighthly, the present disclosure provides a method for displaying agraphical user interface of a television screen shot. The methodincludes: in response to an input instruction for capturing a screenshot, displaying a graphical user interface on a display which includesa currently-played content display layer and a screen shot contentdisplay layer. The screen shot content display layer includes aplurality of option bars, at least one of which is configured to displayrelated video recommendations of TV programs identified on the basis ofthe image of the screen shot.

Optionally, the content displayed in the option bar for videorecommendation includes: names of videos, and content profile image ofthe videos.

Optionally, in response to a user's selection for an option bar forvideo recommendation, at least one information window is displayed. Theinformation window is configured to display a detailed introduction of aselected recommendation video.

Optionally, in response to a user's selection for an option bar forvideo recommendation, the video on demand application is activated, andthe currently-played content display layer is switched to display acorresponding selected recommendation video in the video on demand.

Ninthly, the present disclosure provides a method for displaying agraphical user interface of a television screen shot. The methodincludes: in response to an input instruction for capturing a screenshot, displaying a graphical user interface that includes acurrently-played content display layer and a screen shot content displaylayer on a display. The screen shot content display layer includes aplurality of option bars, at least one of which is configured to displaycommodity shopping information recommendations related to objectsidentified on the basis of the image of the screen shot.

Optionally, in response to a user's selection for an option bar for theshopping information recommendation, the shopping application isactivated to display at least one window configured to display webpagecontent of the shopping application.

Optionally, in response to a user's selection for an option bar for theshopping information recommendation, at least one shopping informationlist window is displayed, and the content displayed in the windowincludes a sub-option bar for related commodity description, and asub-option bar for activation of the shopping application.

Optionally, in response to a user's selection for the sub-option bar foractivation of the shopping application, the corresponding shoppingapplication is activated.

Optionally, after the shopping application is activated, thecurrently-played content display layer is switched to a page related toa commodity in the selected shopping application.

Optionally, in response to a user's selection for the option bar for theshopping related information recommendation, at least one shoppinginformation list window is displayed, and the content displayed in thewindow includes a sub-option bar for description of a related commodity,a sub-option bar for activation of the shopping application, and asub-option bar for the QR code information.

Optionally, the QR code information indicates a webpage of thecorresponding commodity in the shopping application.

Optionally, in response to a user's selection for the sub-option bar forthe QR code information, the QR code information is presented in amagnified manner such that other electronic terminals is able to scan itto acquire the page of the corresponding commodity in the shoppingapplication.

Optionally, in response to a user's selection for the sub-option bar fordescription of the commodity, details of the commodity are displayed,and include one or more commodity information, such as dimension, size,color and specification.

Tenthly, the present disclosure provides a smart television, including:a display device; a memory; and a processor in communication with thememory and the display device. The processor is configured to: while thedisplay device is playing content, in response to an input instructionfor capturing a screen shot, display a thumbnail image of a screen shot,wherein the thumbnail image contains at least one object; and inresponse to a selection for an object among the at least one object oran input keyword matched with an object among the at least one object,display related recommended content on the basis of the object.

Optionally, the recommended content includes: at least one type ofcontent recommendation related to the object, a content profile relatedto a first type of the at least one type of content recommendation, andone or more content sources of the first type of content recommendation.

Optionally, in response to a user input for selecting the first type ofcontent recommendation, the service or application corresponding to thesilo related to the first type of content recommendation is activated.

Optionally, the service or application is any one of a webpageapplication, a video application, a TV program application and ashopping application.

Optionally, the recommended content is any one of a webpage textrecommendation, a video on demand recommendation, a shopping webpagelink recommendation and an application recommendation.

Eleventhly, the present disclosure provides a method for displaying agraphical user interface of a television screen shot, including: inresponse to an input instruction for capturing a screen shot from auser, displaying a graphical user interface that includes acurrently-played content display layer and a screen shot content displaylayer. The screen shot content display layer includes a screen shotdisplay bar configured to display thumbnail images of screen shots, akeyword option bar for displaying a keyword matched with an object inresponse to a user's input selection for different objects in the screenshot display bar, and a recommended content display bar for at least onekind of content recommendation related to the objects. The thumbnailimage contains at least one object.

Optionally, in response to a user input for selecting a keyword inkeyword option bar, different kinds of content recommendations relatedto a selected keyword in the keyword option bar are displayed in the atleast one recommended content display bar.

Optionally, the screen shot content display layer further includes adisplay bar for input interfaces of control instructions in associationwith a screen shot.

Optionally, the display bar for input interfaces of control instructionsincludes a screen shot share display bar. In response to a user inputfor selecting the screen shot share display bar, a QR code image isoutput, so that a terminal can scan it to acquire the thumbnail image.

Optionally, the upper surface of the thumbnail image further includes aQR code image configured to display information of the thumbnail image.The thumbnail image and the QR code image are simultaneously uploaded toa third-party server such that the terminal scans the QR code image toacquire the thumbnail image from a third-party server.

Twelfthly, the present disclosure provides a smart television,including: a display device; a memory; and a processor in communicationwith the memory and the display device. The processor is configured to:while the display device is playing content, in response to an inputinstruction for capturing a screen shot, display a thumbnail image of ascreen shot, wherein the thumbnail image contains at least one object;and in response to a selection for an object among the at least oneobject or a keyword matched with an object among the at least oneobject, displaying a focus frame selection indicator for a selectedobject and recommended content related to a selected object.

Optionally, before responding to the selection for an object, theselection for the object is received on the basis of a first positioncoordinate of the object in the thumbnail image and a preset input orderof the object.

Optionally, the first position coordinate is obtained according to asecond position coordinate of the object in an image displayed in thecurrently-played current display layer and a ratio of the imagedisplayed in the currently-played current display layer to the thumbnailimage.

Optionally, before responding to the selection for the keyword matchedwith the object, the selection of the keyword matched with the object isreceived on the basis of a direction movement indicator.

Optionally, after displaying the thumbnail image of the screen shot inresponse to the input instruction for capturing a screen shot, a QR codeimage containing information of the thumbnail image and user promptinformation are also displayed. In response to a selection for the userprompt information, an information window displayed in a floatingmanner, and is configured to display the QR code image in a magnifiedmanner to facilitate sharing the thumbnail image to a terminal.

Optionally, the QR code image and the user prompt information aredisplayed above the thumbnail image.

Thirteenthly, the present disclosure provides a method for displaying agraphical user interface of a television screen shot, including: inresponse to an input instruction for capturing a screen shot, displayinga graphical user interface that includes a currently-played currentdisplay layer and a screen shot content display layer. The screen shotcontent display layer includes a screen shot display bar configured todisplay a thumbnail image of a screen shot, and a recommended contentdisplay bar configured to display recommended content related to thecontent identified on the basis of the picture thumbnail image. Thethumbnail image contains at least one object. In response to a selectionfor an object among the at least one object, a focus frame selectionindicator for a selected object is displayed in the screen shot displaybar, and the recommended content related to the selected object isdisplayed in the recommended content display bar.

Optionally, the recommended content display bar includes: one or more ofa webpage text and/or image recommendation option bar, a TV programrelated video recommendation option bar and a commodity shoppinginformation recommendation option bar.

Optionally, in response to a selection for any one of the option bars,at least one information window floats above the screen shot contentdisplay layer. The information window is configured to displayinformation related to the content in the option bar.

Optionally, a transitional animation is used while the informationwindow is displayed, and the transitional animation includes ways howthe information window comes into display.

Fourteenthly, the present disclosure provides a method for displaying agraphical user interface of a television screen shot, including: inresponse to an input instruction for capturing a screen shot, displayinga graphical user interface that includes a currently-played currentdisplay layer, a screen shot content display layer and a functionselection region. The screen shot content display layer is configured todisplay a thumbnail image of a screen shot and content-relatedrecommended content related to the content identified on the basis ofthe thumbnail image. The function selection region includes an objectselection tab for accessing an object in the thumbnail image, at leastone content recommendation tab for accessing the recommended content,and/or a screen shot share tab for sharing the thumbnail image.

Optionally, in response to a selection for the object selection tab,different objects of the thumbnail image and/or keywords matched withthe different objects are displayed in the screen shot content displaylayer.

Optionally, in response to a selection for a keyword, an objectcorresponding to the keyword is displayed in the screen shot contentdisplay layer.

Optionally, in response to a selection for a keyword, the at least onecontent recommendation tab is configured to provide an access to therecommended content related to an object corresponding to the keyword.

Optionally, in response to a selection for a content recommendation tab,the detailed content related to the content recommendation tab isdisplayed in the screen shot content display layer.

Optionally, when the detailed content related to the contentrecommendation tab is displayed in the screen shot content displaylayer, the function selection region has three states: hidden,displayed, and partially hidden and partially displayed.

Optionally, before the content of the thumbnail image is identified, thescreen shot share tab in the function selection region is in aselectable state, and the object selection tab and the at least onecontent recommendation tab are in a non-selectable state.

Optionally, the screen shot content display layer and the functionselection region are arranged in the left-right direction or in theup-down direction.

Fifteenthly, the present disclosure provides a method for displaying agraphical user interface of a television screen shot, including: inresponse to an input instruction for capturing a screen shot, displayinga graphical user interface that includes a currently-played currentdisplay layer, a screen shot content display layer and a functionselection region. The screen shot content display layer is configured todisplay a thumbnail image of a screen shot and recommended contentrelated to the content identified on the basis of the thumbnail image.The function selection region includes an object selection tab foraccessing an object in the thumbnail image, at least one contentrecommendation tab for accessing the recommended content, and/or ascreen shot share tab for sharing the thumbnail image. In response to aselection for the object selection tab, a sub-menu tab of the objectselection tab is displayed in the function selection region. Thesub-menu tab includes a keyword matched with an object of the at leastone object in the thumbnail image.

Optionally, in response to a selection for a keyword, an objectcorresponding to the keyword is displayed in the screen shot contentdisplay layer.

Optionally, after the object corresponding to the keyword is displayedin the screen shot content display layer, in response to a selection forthe at least one content recommendation tab, recommended content relatedto the object corresponding to the keyword are displayed in the screenshot content display layer.

Optionally, the content recommendation tab is configured to provide oneor more recommended content accesses to a webpage text and/or thumbnailimage, a TV program related video and commodity shopping information.

Sixteenthly, the present disclosure provides a smart television,including a display; a memory; and a processor in communication with thememory and the display. The processor is configured to perform: themethod for displaying a graphical user interface of a television screenshot of any one of the second, fourth to ninth, eleventh, and thirteenthto fifteenth aspects.

The present disclosure describes another embodiment of a smarttelevision. The smart television includes a display device configured todisplay a user interface; a memory storing instructions; and a processorin communication with the display device and the memory. When theprocessor executes the instructions, the processor is configured toperform: while the display device is displaying currently-playedcontent, in response to receiving an input instruction for capturing ascreen shot, acquiring a screen shot image comprising at least oneobject, while the display device continues playing, displaying a screenshot content display layer on the display device, wherein the screenshot content display layer is configured to present the screen shotimage associated with the at least one object, in response to receivingan input for selecting an object among the at least one object or akeyword matched with the object, displaying recommended content based onthe object, and in response to receiving a selection for a differentobject on the screen shot image by moving a focus frame to indicate theselection on the different object, updating presentation of recommendedcontent based on the selected different object indicated by the focusframe.

The present disclosure describes another embodiment of a method ofdisplaying a graphical user interface for a television screen shot. Themethod include while a display device is displaying currently-playedcontent, in response to receiving an input instruction for capturing ascreen shot, acquiring, by an apparatus comprising the display device, amemory storing instructions, and a processor in communication with thedisplay device and the memory, a screen shot image comprising at leastone object; while the display device continues playing, displaying, bythe apparatus, a screen shot content display layer on the displaydevice, wherein the screen shot content display layer is configured topresent the screen shot image associated with the at least one object;in response to receiving an input for selecting an object among the atleast one object or a keyword matched with the object, displaying, bythe apparatus, recommended content related to the object; and inresponse to receiving a selection for a different object on the screenshot image by moving a focus frame to indicate the selection on thedifferent object, updating, by the apparatus, presentation ofrecommended content based on the selected different object indicated bythe focus frame.

The above is a brief summary of the present disclosure to explaincertain aspects of this application. This summary is not an extensive orexhaustive overview of this application and its various aspects,examples and/or configurations. The purpose is neither to determine theprimary or critical elements of this application, nor to describe thescope of this application, but to briefly introduce some of the conceptsof the application as an introduction to the detailed description below.It should be understood that other aspects, examples, and/orconfigurations of the present disclosure may utilize one or more of thefeatures set forth above or as detailed below, either singly or incombination.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A illustrates a first view of an environment or smart televisionexample;

FIG. 1B illustrates a second view of an environment or smart televisionexample;

FIG. 2 illustrates a first view of a smart television example;

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a smart television hardwareexample;

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a smart television software and/orfirmware example;

FIG. 5 illustrates a second block diagram of a smart television softwareand/or firmware example;

FIG. 6 illustrates a third block diagram of a smart television softwareand/or firmware example;

FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of a content real data serviceexample;

FIG. 8 illustrates a front view of a smart television screen example;

FIG. 9 illustrates an audio-visual image example of a user interface fora content/silo selector;

FIG. 10 illustrates a Graphical User Interface (GUI) of an example I forselecting and triggering a screen shot;

FIG. 11 illustrates another example GUI for selecting and triggering ascreen shot;

FIG. 12 illustrates another example GUI for selecting and triggering ascreen shot;

FIG. 13 illustrates an example GUI for selecting a screen shot pictureoption bar;

FIG. 14 illustrates an example GUI for selecting a “Screen shot share”option bar under an external network;

FIG. 15A illustrates an example GUI for selecting a “Baidu Baike” optionbar;

FIG. 15B illustrates an example GUI for selecting a description barunder the “Baidu Baike” option bar;

FIG. 15C illustrates an example GUI for selecting an album bar under the“Baidu Baike” option bar;

FIG. 15D illustrates an example GUI for selecting a picture in the albumbar under the “Baidu Baike” option bar;

FIG. 16A illustrates an example GUI for selecting a “News” option bar;

FIG. 16B illustrates an example GUI for selecting a news event confirmoption bar under the “News” option bar;

FIG. 17A illustrates an example GUI for selecting a “Program guide”option bar;

FIG. 17B illustrates an example GUI for a program schedule option bar;

FIG. 17C illustrates an example GUI for selecting a program name optionbar;

FIG. 17D illustrates an example GUI for selecting a previous program forplaying;

FIG. 18 illustrates an example GUI for selecting a video on demandoption bar;

FIG. 19A illustrates an example GUI for selecting a shopping option bar;

FIG. 19B illustrates an example GUI for selecting a system-providedshopping application option bar;

FIG. 20 illustrates an example flow diagram of selecting a screen shotto obtain a screen shot and keyword GUI;

FIG. 21 illustrates an example GUI on which a user triggers a screenshot capturing instruction;

FIG. 22 describes a flow diagram of a screen shot capturing processaccording to the present disclosure;

FIG. 23 describes a flow diagram of a process of acquiring a screen shotpicture at a client according to the present disclosure;

FIGS. 24A to 24B are flow diagrams of checking content in C Baikeaccording to some embodiments;

FIG. 25 describes a flow diagram of browsing a GUI under a news optionbar according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 26A describes a flow diagram of a program schedule process under aprogram guide according to the present disclosure;

FIGS. 26B to 26C are flow diagrams of a process of playing updatedprograms under the program guide;

FIG. 27 is an exemplary process flow diagram of selecting video ondemand under a video playing application;

FIGS. 28A to 28B describe a flow diagram of browsing a GUI under ashopping option bar according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 28C describes a flow diagram of acquiring a GUI of shoppinginformation at a client according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 28D is an exemplary flow diagram of entering a system-providedshopping application;

FIG. 29 illustrates a GUI of an example II for selecting and triggeringa screen shot;

FIG. 30 illustrates an example GUI for displaying a QR code image anduser prompt information;

FIGS. 31A to 31D illustrate an example GUI for selecting differentobjects of a screen shot picture and displaying recommended contentrelated to the objects;

FIGS. 32A to 32G illustrate an example GUI for selecting different kindsof recommended content display bars;

FIGS. 33A to 33E illustrate an example GUI of recommended contentinformation windows displayed by selecting different kinds ofrecommended content display bars;

FIGS. 34A to 34C illustrate an example GUI of content detail informationwindows displayed by selecting different recommended content informationwindows;

FIG. 35 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for displaying a GUI ofa screen shot of a currently-played content on a display according tosome embodiments;

FIG. 36 is another flow diagram illustrating a method for displaying aGUI of a screen shot of a currently-played content on a displayaccording to some embodiments;

FIG. 37 illustrates a GUI of an example III for selecting and triggeringa screen shot;

FIG. 38 illustrates an example GUI for displaying a QR code image anduser prompt information;

FIGS. 39A to 39D illustrate an example GUI of recommended contentinformation windows displayed by selecting different function tabs in afunction selection region;

FIG. 39E illustrates an example GUI of a news detail information windowdisplayed by selecting a news information window;

FIG. 40 illustrates an example GUI of a submenu tab displayed byselecting a person selection tab in a function selection region;

FIG. 41 illustrates another example GUI for selecting and triggering ascreen shot;

FIG. 42 illustrates an example GUI for displaying a QR code image anduser prompt information;

FIGS. 43A to 43C illustrate an example GUI of recommended contentinformation windows displayed by selecting different function tabs in afunction selection region;

FIG. 44 is another flow diagram illustrating a method for displaying aGUI of a screen shot of a currently-played content on a displayaccording to some embodiments;

FIG. 45 is another flow diagram illustrating a method for displaying aGUI of a screen shot of a currently-played content on a displayaccording to some embodiments.

In these drawings, similar components and/or features may have the samereference label. Moreover, various components of the same type can bedistinguished from other similar components by reference to the lettersin the labels. If only the first reference label is used in thespecification, this description is applicable to any similar componentwith the same first reference label, regardless of whether the secondreference label is the same.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

In the following descriptions, a large number of specific details aredescribed to provide clearer illustrations of the embodiments of thepresent disclosure. However, it is apparent for those skilled in the artthat these specific details may not be used during implementation of theembodiments of the present disclosure.

The term “live television” used in the present disclosure refers toreal-time television production broadcastings or television productionbroadcastings basically synchronized with an event occurrence moment.

The term “Video on Demand” (VOD) used in the present disclosure refersto a system and process for allowing a user to select and watch/listencontent of videos or audios on demand. A VOD system may shunt a content,so that the content is watched in real time or the content is downloadedto a storage medium for watching later.

The term “display screen” refers to a portion of one or more screens,and is configured to display content output by a computer to a user. Thedisplay (or display screen) can be a single-screen display or amulti-screen display (known as a composite display). A single actualscreen can contain multiple displays that are managed as separatelogical displays. Therefore, different content can be displayed on theseparate displays, even though it is in a certain part of the sameactual screen.

The term “remote controller” refers to a component of an electronicdevice (most commonly a television receiver, DVD player, and/or hometheater system) that typically wirelessly controls the device over ashort line of sight. The remote controller typically uses infraredand/or radio frequency (RF) signals that may include WiFi, a wirelessUSB, Bluetooth™ connection and a motion sensor to initiate functionand/or voice control. A touch screen remote controller is a handheldremote control apparatus that replaces most of physical built-in hardkeys in a traditional remote control apparatus with a touch screen userinterface.

The term “display image” as used in the present disclosure refers to animage content formed on a display. A typical display image is atelevision broadcast content. The display image will take up all or partof the display.

The term “panel” as used in the present disclosure may refer to a userinterface that is displayed at least in a portion of the display. Panelscan be interactive (such as accepting user inputs) or only providinginformation (such as not accepting the user inputs), and can besemitransparent, so it becomes blurry, but does not obscure the contenton the display screen. The panel can be changed based on a user inputfrom a button or a remote controller interface.

The term “silo” as used in the present disclosure may be a logicalrepresentation of an input, source, or application. The input can be anelectronic device (such as a DVD and a video recorder) that is connectedto a television via a port (such as an HDMI and a video/audio inputport) or a network (such as local and wide area networks). Unlike adevice, the input can be connected to one or more devices as anelectrical or physical connection configuration. The source, especiallya content source, can be a data service (such as a media center and filesystem) that provides content. The application can be a software service(such as a live television, video on demand, a user application andpicture displaying) that provides a specific function type. The silo, asa logical representation, can have other related definitions orattributes, such as setting, function, or other characteristics.

The terms “determining,” “calculating,” and “computer computing,” andvariations thereof, as used in the present disclosure, are usedinterchangeably and include any type of methodology, process,mathematical operation, or skill.

Thereafter, when user interface elements in “select”, “selected” “willselect” or “being selecting” graphical user interfaces (GUIs) arementioned in the present disclosure, these belongings should beunderstood as including use of a mouse or other input devices to clickor “hover” over at least one of the user interface elements, or use ofone or more fingers or styluses to touch a screen, tap the screen, ormake a gesture on at least one of the user interface elements. The userinterface elements can be virtual buttons, menu buttons, selectors,switches, sliders, erasers, knobs, thumbnail images, links, icons,single-click buttons, check boxes, and any other mechanisms that receiveinputs from users.

Smart Television (TV) Environment:

referring to some embodiments of a smart TV 100 as shown in FIGS. 1A and1B, the smart TV may be used for enhancing the user interactionexperience, either at home or in a working place.

In some examples, the smart TV 100 may receive and comprehend varioususer and/or device inputs via configuration. For example, a user caninteract with the smart TV 100 through one or more physical orelectronic controls that may include a button, a switch, a touchscreen/region and/or other controls associated with the smart TV 100. Onsome circumstances, the smart TV 100 may contain one or more interactivecontrols that may be associated with a remote controller. The remotecontroller may communicate with the smart TV 100 through a wired and/orwireless signal.

Optionally, the smart TV 100 may be controlled with a smart phone, aflat computer, a computer, a notebook computer, a netbook and othersmart devices. For example, the smart TV 100 is controlled by using anapplication operated on a smart device. The application can beconfigured to provide various control functions of the smart TV 100 to auser in an intuitive user interface (UI) on a screen associated with thesmart TV 100.

The smart TV 100 may be configured to receive inputs through variousinput devices. For example, the user can talk to the smart TV 100 in asession way. The smart TV 100 may have a role similar to a smartpersonal assistant for smart devices and a voice-activated navigationapplication to receive and understand voice commands.

In addition, the smart TV 100 can be configured as a communicationdevice that can establish network connections 104 and use a telephoneline 120 to connect to a telephone network operated by a telephonecompany in many different manners (including a wired 108 or wireless 112mode, and a cellular network 116). These connections 104 enable thesmart TV 100 to access one or more communication networks. The Internetis an example of the communication networks 132.

In some examples, the smart TV 100 can be equipped with a variety ofcommunication tools. The variety of communication tools may allow thesmart TV 100 to communicate with a local area network (LAN) 124, awireless local area network (WLAN) 128, and other networks 132. Thesenetworks can act as redundant connections to ensure network accesses. Inother words, if one connection is broken, the smart TV 100 willre-establish and/or maintain the network connections 104 by usinganother connection path. Moreover, the smart TV 100 also uses thesenetwork connections 104 to send and receive information, and to interactwith an electronic program guide (EPG) 136, receive software updates140, contact customer services 144 (such as get help or services) and/oraccess a remotely stored digital media library 148.

The smart TV 100 can create and save screen shots of media, images anddata which are displayed on the associated screen of the smart TV 100.

As shown in FIG. 1B, the smart TV 100 may interact with other electronicdevices 168 via the wired 108 and/or wireless 112 connection. Asdescribed in the present disclosure, the components of the smart TV 100allow the device 100 to be connected to the devices 168, including, butnot limited to, a DVD player 168 a, a Blue-ray player 168 b, a portabledigital media device 168 c, a smart phone 168 d, a tablet device 168 e,a personal computer 168 f, an external junction box 168 g, a keyboard168 h, a positioning device 168 i, a printer 168 j, a game controllerand/or gamepad 168 k, a satellite dish 1681, an external display device168 m and other universal serial buses (USBs), an LAN, Bluetooth™, ahigh definition multimedia interface (HDMI) component device and/or awireless device. When connected to the external junction box 168 g orsatellite dish 1681, the smart TV 100 can access more media content.

Moreover, as detailed below, the smart TV 100 can receive digital and/oranalog signal broadcasts from a TV station. It can work as one or morecable TVs, Internet TVs, Internet protocol TVs, satellite TVs, web TVsand/or smart TVs. The smart TV 100 can also be configured to control andinteract with other smart components, such as a security system 172, anentrance guard/gate controller 176, a remote video camera 180, alighting system 184, a thermostat controller 188, a refrigerator 192 andother apparatuses.

Smart TV:

FIG. 2 illustrates components of the smart TV 100. As shown in FIG. 2 ,the smart TV 100 may be supported by a movable base or bracket 204 thatis connected to a framework 208. The framework 208 surrounds the edge ofa display 212 without covering its front side. The display 212 mayinclude a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma screen, a lightemitting diode (LED) screen, or other type of screens.

The smart TV 100 may contain an integrated loudspeaker 216 and at leastone microphone 220. In some examples, a first region of the framework208 includes a horizontal gesture capturing region 224, and a secondregion includes a vertical gesture capturing region 228. The gesturecapturing regions 224 and 228 contain regions that can receive inputs byidentifying user gestures. In some examples, users do not need toactually touch the surface of the screen 212 of the smart TV 100 at all.However, the gesture capturing regions 224 and 228 do not contain pixelsthat can perform display functions or capabilities.

In some examples, one or more image capturing devices 232 (such as acamera) are added to capture still and/or video images. The imagecapturing devices 232 may include or be connected with other elements,such as a flashlight or other light sources 236 and a ranging device 240to assist in focusing of the image capturing devices. In addition, thesmart TV 100 can also identify the respective users by using themicrophone 220, the gesture capturing regions 224 and 228, the imagecapture devices 232 and the ranging device 240. Additionally oralternatively, the smart TV 100 can learn and remember the preferencesof the respective users. In some examples, learning and memorizing (suchas identifying and calling stored information) may be related to useridentification.

In some examples, an infrared transmitter and receiver 244 can also beprovided and connected to the smart TV 100 via a remote control device(not shown here) or other infrared devices. Additionally oralternatively, the remote control device can transmit wireless signalsby other manners in addition to RF, light and/or infrared rays.

In some examples, an audio jack 248 is hidden behind a foldable ormovable panel. The audio jack 248 contains a cuspidal round sleeve ortip-ring-sleeve (TRS) connector that allows, for example, a user to useheadphones, a headset, or other external audio devices.

In some examples, the smart TV 100 also includes a plurality of buttons252. For example, FIG. 2 shows the buttons 252 at the top of the smartTV 100, which can also be located at other positions. As shown in thefigure, the smart TV 100 contains six buttons 252 (from a to f) that canbe configured for particular inputting. For example, the first button252 can be configured to be an on/off button for controlling systempower of the entire smart TV 100. The buttons 252 can be configuredtogether or separately to control multiple aspects of the smart TV 100.Some non-restrictive examples include, but not limited to, an overallsystem volume, brightness, image capturing devices, microphones, andholding/ending of video conferences. Different from the independentbuttons, two buttons can be combined into one rocker button. This rockerbutton is very useful in certain situations, such as performingfunctions of controlling the volume or brightness.

In some examples, one or more buttons 252 can be used to supportdifferent user commands. For example, the duration of a normal press isgenerally less than 1 second, similar to fast input. The duration of amedium press is generally 1 second or longer, but no more than 12seconds. The duration of a long press is generally 12 seconds or longer.This function of the button generally depends on an applicationactivated on the smart TV 100. For example, in a video conferenceapplication, the normal, medium, or long press may mean ending a videoconference, increasing or decreasing the volume, increasing the inputresponse speed, and switching the microphone mute according to specificbuttons. The normal, medium, or long press can also control the imagecapturing devices 232 to be zoomed in and zoomed out, take pictures orrecord videos according to specific buttons.

Hardware Functions:

FIG. 3 illustrates some components of the smart TV 100 according to theexample of the present disclosure. The smart TV 100 includes a displayor a screen 304.

One or more display controllers 316 may be used to control the operationof the screen 304. The display controller 316 may control the operationof the screen 304, including input and output (display) functions. Thedisplay controller 316 may also control the operation of the screen 304and interact with other inputs, such as infrared and/or radio inputsignals (e.g., an entrance guard/door controller and an alarming systemcomponent). According to some other examples, the function of thedisplay controller 316 may be possibly added into other components suchas a processor 364.

The processor 364 may contain a universal programmable processor orcontroller for performing application design or instructions. Accordingto at least some examples, the processor 364 contains a plurality ofprocessor cores and/or executes a plurality of virtual processors.According to some other examples, the processor 364 may possibly includea plurality of physical processors. As a specific example, the processor364 may include a particularly configured application-specificintegrated circuit (ASIC) or other integrated circuits, a digital signalprocessor, a controller, a hard-wired electronic or logic circuit, aprogrammable logic device or gate array, a special-purpose computer andthe like. The processor 364 is generally used to operate program codesor instructions to execute various functions of the smart TV 100.

In order to support a connection function or capacity, the smart TV 100may include an encoding/decoding and/or compression/decompression module366 to receive and manage digital TV information. The encoding/decodingand/or compression/decompression module 366 may decompress and/or decodeanalog and/or digital information sent from a public TV link or in aprivate TV network and received through an antenna 324, an I/O module348, a wireless connection module 328 and/or other wirelesscommunication modules 322. The TV information may be sent to the screen304 and/or an affiliated loudspeaker that receives an analog or digitalreceiving signal. Any encoding/decoding and compression/decompressionmay be executed on basis of various formats (such as audio, video anddata). An encryption module 324 communicates with the encoding/decodingand/or compression/decompression module 366 such that all data receivedor sent by a user or supplier are kept confidential.

In some examples, the smart TV 100 includes extra or other wirelesscommunication modules 332. For example, the other wireless communicationmodules 332 may include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth™, WiMax, infrared or otherwireless communication links. A wireless communication module 328 andthe other wireless communication modules 332 may be connected with oneshared or dedicated antenna 324 and one shared or dedicated I/O module348.

In some examples, in order to support the communication function orcapacity, the smart TV 100 may include the wireless connection module328. For example, the wireless connection module 328 may include aglobal system for mobile communications (GSM), a code division multipleaccess (CDMA), a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) and/or ananalog cellular phone transceiver, and can transmit voices, multimediaand/or data through a cellular network.

The I/O module 348 and associated ports can be added, so as to supportcommunication with other communication devices, servers and/orperipherals through a wired network or a link. The I/O module 348includes an Ethernet port, a universal serial bus (USB) port or otherinterfaces.

An audio input/output interface/device 344 can be added to output ananalog audio to the loudspeaker or other devices connected thereto, andreceive an analog audio input from the microphone or other devicesconnected thereto. For example, the audio input/output interface/device344 may include an associated amplifier and an analog-to-digitalconverter. Alternatively or additionally, the smart TV 100 may includean integrated audio input/output device 356 and/or an audio jackconnected to an external loudspeaker or microphone. A port interface 352may be added, and includes a peripheral or universal port which providesa support to connection of the device 100 to other devices or components(such as a dock). After mutual connection, these devices or componentsmay possibly or may not possibly provide extra or different functions tothe device 100. A docking port and/or the port interface 352 may furthersupply power to the device 100 or output power from the device 100 inaddition to supporting exchange of communication signals between thedevice 100 and other devices or components. The port interface 352further includes a smart element which includes a docking module forcontrolling the communication or other interaction between the smart TV100 and the device or element connected thereto.

The smart TV 100 may further include a memory 308 which facilitates theprocessor 364 to execute the application design or instruction and isused to store program instructions and/or data temporarily or for a longtime. For example, the memory 308 may include a random access memory(RAM), a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a synchronous dynamicrandom access memory (SDRAM) or other solid-state memories. In someexamples, a data memory 312 is added. Similar to the memory 308, thedata memory 312 may include one or more solid-state memories. In someexamples, the data memory 312 may include one hard disk driver or otherRAMs.

For example, a hardware button 358 may be applied to certain controloperations. One or more image capturing interfaces/devices 340 (such asa camera) can be added to capture still and/or video images. In someexamples, the image capturing interfaces/devices 340 may include ascanner, a code reader, or an action sensor. The image capturinginterfaces/devices 340 may include or be connected with other elementssuch as a flashlight or other light sources. The image capturinginterfaces/devices 340 may interact with a user ID module 350 that helpsto identify the identity of a user of the smart TV 100.

The smart TV 100 may also include a global positioning system (GPS)receiver 336. According to some examples of the present disclosure, theGPS receiver 336 may further include a GPS module to provide absolutepositioning information to other components of the smart TV 100.Therefore, it can be understood that other satellite positioning systemreceivers can be replaced or used in conjunction with a GPS.

The components of the smart TV 100 may be powered by a main power supplyand/or a power control module 360. For example, the power control module360 includes a battery, an AC to DC converter, a power control logicand/or a port that interconnects the smart TV 100 with an external powersupply.

Firmware and Software:

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a software system component and module400. The software system 400 possibly includes one or more layers,including, but not limited to, an operating system (OS) kernel 404, oneor more libraries 408, an application framework 412 and one or moreapplications 416. One or more layers 404 to 416 may communicate witheach other to execute the functions of the smart TV 100.

The OS kernel 404 contains a main function that allows software andhardware associated with the smart TV 100 to interact with each other.The kernel 404 may contain a series of software for managing computerhardware resources and servicing other computer programs or softwarecodes. The OS kernel 404 is a main component of an OS and acts as anintermediary between an application and data processing completed by ahardware component. Part of the OS kernel 404 may include one or moredevice drivers 420. The device driver 420 may be any code in the OS toassist in the operation or control of devices or hardware connected toor associated with the smart TV. The driver 420 may contain a code foroperating videos, audios and/or multimedia components of other smart TVs100. Examples of the drivers include a display and a camera.

The libraries 408 may contain codes or other components that areaccessed and executed during operation of the software system 400, andpossibly contain, but not limited to, one or more OS runtime libraries424, a TV system hypertext application language (HAL) library 428,and/or a data service library 432. The OS runtime library 424 maypossibly contain codes required by the OS kernel 404 and other OSfunctions that are executed during the operation of the software system400. This library may contain a code that is launched during theoperation of the software system 400.

The TV service HAL 428 may contain a code required by a TV service andexecuted by the application framework 412 or the application 416. The TVservice HAL library 428 is specific to controlling the operation of thesmart TVs 100 with different smart TV functions. In addition, the TVservice HAL library 428 may also be comprised of other types ofapplication languages in addition to an HAL or instances of differentcode types or code formats.

The data service library 432 may contain one or more components orcodes, and is used for executing components that realize data servicefunctions. The data service functions can be executed in the applicationframework 412 and/or the application layer 416. FIG. 6 illustratesexamples of a data service function and a component type.

The application framework 412 may contain a general abstract concept ofa provided function. The function may be selected through one or moreapplications 416, so as to provide specific application functions orsoftware to these applications. Therefore, the framework 412 may containone or more different services, or provide other applications havinggeneral functions on two or more applications through an access to theapplications 416. For example, this function includes management of oneor more windows or panels, planes, activities, content and resources.The application framework 412 may contain, but not limited to, one ormore TV services 434, TV service frameworks 440, TV resources 444 anduser interface components 448.

The TV service framework 440 may provide extra abstract concepts todifferent TV services. The TV service frameworks 440 allow regularaccesses to and operations of services related to TV functions. The TVservices 436 are general services provided in the TV service framework440 that can access the applications in the application layers 416. TheTV resources 444 provide codes for accessing TV resources. Theseresources include any type of stored content, videos, audios orfunctions provided by other smart TVs 100. The TV resources 444, the TVservices 436 and the TV service framework 440 are to execute TV functionservices of the smart TV 100.

One or more user interface components 448 may provide general componentsfor displaying of the smart TV 100. The user interface components 448may act as general components that are accessed by various applicationsprovided by the application framework 412. The user interface components448 can be accessed to provide services to the panel and silo as shownin FIG. 5 .

The application layer 416 may contain and execute the applicationsrelated to the smart TV 100. The application layer 416 possiblycontains, but not limited to, one or more live TV applications 452,video on demand applications 456, media center applications 460,application centers 464 and user interface applications 468. The live TVapplications 452 can provide live TVs through different signal sources.For example, the live TV applications 452 can use inputs from a wiredTV, an air broadcast, a satellite service or other types of live TVservices to provide the TVs. Then, the live TV applications 452 candisplay multimedia presentations or video and audio presentations oflive TV signals on the display of the smart TV 100.

The video on demand applications 456 can provide videos from differentstorage sources. Different from the live TV applications 452, the videoon demand applications 456 display videos from some storage sources.Video on demand sources can be associated with users or smart TVs orsome other types of services. For example, the video on demand 456 canbe provided by the iTunes library stored by a cloud technology, a localhard disk memory that contains stored video programs or some othersources.

The media center applications 460 can provide applications required byvarious media presentations. For example, the media center 460 canprovide services for displaying of images or audios that are differentfrom live TV or video on demand but still can be accessed by users. Themedia center 460 can acquire media displayed on the smart TV 100 byaccessing different sources.

The application center 464 can provide, store and use the applications.The applications can be games, productivity applications or some otherapplications that are generally related to a computer system or otherdevices and can be operated in the smart TV. The application center 464can acquire these applications from different sources, store them in alocal memory, and execute these applications for the user on the smartTV 100.

The user interface applications 468 can provide services for specificuser interfaces associated with the smart TV 100. These user interfacescan contain the silos and panels in FIG. 5 . One example of userinterface software 500 is as shown in FIG. 5 . The application framework412 herein contains one or more code components that may help controluser interface events. Meanwhile, one or more applications in theapplication layer 416 affect the use of the user interfaces of the smartTV 100. The application framework 412 may contain one silo switchingcontroller 504 and/or an input event transmitter 508. The codecomponents in the application framework 412 are possibly more or lessthan those as shown in FIG. 5 . The silo switching controller 504contains a code and language for managing switching between one or moresilos. The silos can be vertical user interface functions on the smartTV, and contain user available information. The switching controller 504can manage switching between two silos when a user interface has anevent. The input event transmitter 508 can receive event information ofthe user interface. The event information is from the OS, and thentransmitted to the input event transmitter 508. The event informationmay contain button selections on the remote controller or the TV, orother types of user interface inputs. Then, the input event transmittercan transmit the event information to a silo manager 532 or a panelmanager 536 (depending on the type of the event). The silo switchingcontroller 504 can interact with the silo manager 532 to affect changingof the silos.

The application framework 416 can contain a user interface application468 and/or a silo application 512. The user interface applications whichare contained in the application framework 416 and necessary to thesmart TV 100 can be more or less than those as shown in FIG. 5 . Theuser interface applications may contain the silo manager 532, the panelmanager 536 and one or more panels 516 to 528. The silo manager 532manages displaying and/or functions of the silos. The silo manager 532can receive or transmit information from the silo switching controller504 or the input event transmitter 508, so as to change a displayed siloand/or determine an input type received by a silo.

The panel manager 536 can display the panels in the user interfaces, soas to manage switching between these panels or affect user interfaceinputs received in the panels. Therefore, the panel manager 536 cancommunicate with different user interface panels, such as a global panel516, a volume panel 520, a setting panel 524 and/or a notification panel528. The panel manager 536 can display these types of panels,specifically depending on inputs from the input event transmitter 508.The global panel 516 possibly contains information related to a homescreen or highest-level information of a user. Information displayed onthe volume panel 520 is related to an audio volume control or othervolume settings. Information displayed on the setting panel 524 isrelated to audio or video settings or other settable characteristics ofthe smart TV 100. The notification panel 528 may provide informationrelated to user notifications. These notifications may be possiblyrelated to video on demand displaying, collection, currently-providedprograms and the like or other information. The content of thenotifications is related to media or some types of settings oroperations or the smart TV 100. The panel manager 536 can communicatewith a panel controller 552 of the silo application 512.

The panel controller 552 may control some panels in the above-mentionedseveral types. Therefore, the panel controller 552 can communicate witha top panel application 540, an application panel 544 and/or a bottompanel 548. The several panels are different when displayed in the userinterfaces of the smart TV 100. Therefore, the panel control may bedetermined on basis of a system configuration or the type of acurrently-used display. The panels 516 to 528 are set to in a certaindisplay direction (depending on the top panel application 540, theapplication panel 544 or the bottom panel application 548).

FIG. 6 is an example of a data service 432 and a data managementoperation. Data management 600 may contain one or more code componentsassociated with different types of data. For example, the data service432 may contain a plurality of code components used to execute video ondemand, electronic program guide or media data functions and related tothese functions. The component types of the data service 432 may bepossibly more or less than those as shown in FIG. 6 . Each of differenttypes of data may possibly contain data models 604 to 612. These datamodels determine types of information to be stored in the data serviceand ways to store the information. Therefore, the data models can manageany data, no matter where they come from and how they will be receivedand managed in a smart TV system. Thus, the data models 604, 608, and/or612 can provide the transform capacity or the capacity of affecting thetransformation of data from one form into another form available for thesmart TV 100.

A variety of different data services (video on demand, electronicprogram guides and media) each have a data sub-service 620, 624 and/or628 for communication with one or more internal and/or external contentproviders 616. The data sub-services 620, 624 and 628 communicate withthe content providers 616 to acquire data and then store the data indatabases 632, 636 and 640. The sub-services 620, 624 and 628 cancommunicate with the content providers by initiating or enabling one ormore source plugins 644, 648 and 652. The source plugins 644, 648 and652 are also different for each content provider 616. Thus, if the datahave a plurality of content sources, each of the data sub-services 620,624 and 628 can decide to enable or initiate different source plugins644, 648 and/or 652. In addition, the content provider 616 can alsoprovide information to a resource arbiter 656 and/or a thumbnail imagecache manager 660. The resource arbiter 656 can communicate with aresource 664 outside the data service 432. Thus, the resource arbiter656 can communicate with a cloud memory, a network memory, or othertypes of external memories in the resource 664. The information willthen be provided to the data sub-services 620, 624 and 628 by thecontent provider module 616. Similarly, the thumbnail image cachemanager contains thumbnail image information from one of the datasub-services 620, 624 and 628 and stores the information in a thumbnailimage database 666. Moreover, the thumbnail image cache manager 660 canalso extract or retrieve information from the thumbnail image database666 to provide the information to one of the data sub-services 620, 624and 628.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary content aggregation architecture 1300.The structure may include a user interface layer 1304 and a contentaggregation layer 1308. The user interface layer 1304 may include a TVapplication 1312, a media player 1316, and an application 1320. The TVapplication 1312 allows audiences to watch channels received viaappropriate transmission media (such as a cable, a satellite, and/or anInternet). The media player 1316 can allow the audiences to watch othertypes of media received via an appropriate transmission medium (such asan Internet). The application 1320 includes other TV-related(pre-installed) applications, such as content checking, content search,device checking and setup algorithms, and can also cooperate with themedia player 1316 to provide information to the audiences.

The content source layer 1308, as a data service, includes a contentsource service 1328, a content aggregation service 1332 and a contentpresentation service 1336. The content source service 1328 manages acontent source investigator, including a local and/or network filesystem, a digital network device manager (which discovers handheld ornon-handheld devices (such as a digital media server, a player, arenderer, a controller, a printer, an uploader, a downloader, a networkconnection function and an interoperation unit) by a known techniquesuch as multichannel broadcast universal plug-and-play or UPnP discoverytechnique), and retrieves, analyzes and encrypts device descriptors foreach discovered device, informs content source services of the newlydiscovered devices, and provides information related to previouslydiscovered devices, such as indexes, Internet protocol TV or IPTV,digital TV or DTV (including high definition and enhanced TVs),third-party services (services as quoted above) and applications (suchas Android applications).

The content source investigator can track a content source which isgenerally configured as binary. The content source service 1328 caninitiate the content source investigator and maintain an open andpersistent communication channel. Communication includes inquiries orcommands and response pairs. The content aggregation service 1332manages a content metadata acquirer, such as a video, audio, and/orimage metadata acquirer. The content presentation service 1336 providesa content indexing interface, such as an Android application interfaceand a digital device interface.

The content source service 1328 may transmit and receive communications1344 to and from the content aggregation service 1332. The communicationcontains notifications on the latest and deleted digital devices and/orcontent and search inquiries and results. The content aggregationservice 1332 can transmit and receive communications 1348 to and fromthe content presentation service 1336, including device and/or contentsearch notifications, consultations and notifications of content ofinterest, and search inquiries and results.

During searching, particularly when a user is searching or browsing acontent, the content presentation service 1336 can receive a userrequest from the user interface layer 1300, thereby turning on a socketand transmitting the request to the content aggregation service 1332.The content aggregation service 1332 firstly returns a result from alocal database 1340. The local database 1340 contains an index or datamodel and indexed metadata. The content source service 1328 furtherissues search and browse requests for all content source investigatorsand other data management systems. The result will be transmitted to thecontent aggregation service 1332 to update the database 1340 to reflecta further search result, and an original content aggregation databasesearch result and a data updated result reflecting more content sourceservice search results are provided to the content presentation service1336 through the previously turned on socket. The content presentationservice 1336 then provides the results to one or more components of theuser interface layer 1304 for presentation to the audiences. When thesearch phase is ended (e.g., the search phase is ended by a user or anoperation of the user), the user interface layer 1304 will turn off thesocket. As shown in the figure, the media can be provided directly fromthe content aggregation service 1332 to the media player 1316 fordisplaying to the user.

As shown in FIG. 8 , the video content (such as TV programs, videos andTVs) is displayed on the front face of the screen 212. The window 1100covers a portion of the screen 212, and the remaining portion displaysthe video content. The portion, which displays the video content, of thescreen 212 may also be enabled to move up or down and/or be compressedas the height of the window 1100 changes. Furthermore, the window 1100is superimposed on the video content, so that the height change of thewindow 1100 does not affect a display position of the video content.

The window 1100 may include one or more pieces of information, such as apanel navigation bar related to a currently-displayed image and/orcontent, details (e.g., the title, the date/time, an audio/videoindicator, a rating and the style), a hot key bar, and a browse requestand/or search request related information input bar.

In some examples, the window 1100 contains content-related appropriateinformation (such as name, duration and/or remaining content browsingtime), setup information, TV or system control information, application(activation) icons (e.g., pre-installed and/or downloaded applications),the application center, the media center, a web browser and input sourceinformation.

FIG. 9 is an audio-visual image example of a user interface for acontent/silo selector. The audio-visual image 1400 includes a contentsource selector 1404. The content source selector 1404 includes icons1428 of one or more silos 1408 to 1424.

The content source selector 1404 may include two or more icons 1408 to1424 that represent different silos. For example, the icons 1408 to 1420represent different content application silos. The different contentapplication silos may include a live TV silo represented by the icon1408. The live TV silo is a logical representation form of a broadcastTV signal application that provides TV content to a user of the TV 100.A video on demand (VOD) silo is represented by the icon 1412. The VODsilo provides a path to access videos that can be selected and availableto the user on demand or other types of media. The media center silo isrepresented by the icon 1416, and it includes an application thatprovides images and/or films developed or stored by the user. The mediacenter provides a way for the user to store their media by using thesmart TV 100. The application silo is represented by the icon 1420, andit provides games and other user applications that can be accessed andused on the TV. The input source silo 1424 can be any type of devicethat is connected to the TV 100 via an input port or other electricalconnection modes, or other storage mechanisms such as other inputinterfaces, e.g. an HDMI, or an input interface collection silo.

Embodiment I

FIGS. 10 to 19 illustrate an exemplary graphical user interface (GUI) Iwhen a user triggers a screen shot operation. When video is being playedon the display, after a screen shot instruction is triggered by clickingthe remote controller, touching the screen or making a gesture and thelike, a GUI is presented on the display, and the GUI includes acurrently-played content display layer 160 and a screen shot contentdisplay layer 170. The currently-played content display layer 160continues playing video content, and the screen shot content displaylayer 170 includes a set of option bar, and the option bars include ascreen shot display bar for displaying a thumbnail of the screen shot, arecommended content display bar for displaying recommended contentsrelated to the items identified in the screen shot, and/or a usercontrol instruction display bar for presenting a input interfaceassociated with the screen shot for receiving a user's selection input.

The screen shot content display layer 170 is displayed in a screen edgeregion, such as the right side or the lower side, and may besuperimposed on the video content being played. The currently-playedcontent display layer 160 may only display a portion, which is notcovered by the screen shot content display layer 170, of the videocontent, or the video content is moved up or left and displayed in thecurrently-played content display layer 160 in a compressed manner.

In some examples, the screen shot content display layer 170 is displayedby default at the right edge of the display, and can be moved to theleft edge, be moved to a lower side, or change a layout direction basedon a user's selection. In some examples, the user can also set it at anyavailable position by system configuration.

In some examples, no matter what content is displaying on the screen, ascreen shot operation can always be performed to acquire an image whichis identical with the content displayed on the screen. Alternatively,the screen shot operation may be performed only when a picture or videois displayed on the screen. Otherwise, the screen shot operation cannotbe performed. A difference between these two screen shot operations inthat the former screen shot is done after the source content and the OnScreen Display (OSD) are synthesized, but the later screen shot is donebefore the source content and the On Screen Display (OSD) aresynthesized, that is to say, just capturing the image of the contentsource.

FIG. 11 illustrates another exemplary GUI when a user triggers a screenshot operation. In the illustrated embodiment, the GUI includes acurrently-played content display layer 160 and a screen shot contentdisplay layer 170.

As shown in FIG. 11 , the screen shot display bar 1710 includes athumbnail of the current screen shot, and related control instructiondisplay bars include a “Screen shot share” 1720 for providingindications for a user to share the thumbnail of the screen shot in thescreen shot display bar 1710 accordingly, and a prompt bar “Input asearch keyword by voice” for instructing a user to input a keyword forvoice search.

A plurality of recommended content display bars 1730 to 1790 are used todisplay one or more of the following options: keywords identified ordetermined from the thumbnail of the screen shots, other contentprofiles related to the keywords, sources or types of the contentprofiles.

In an example, when the currently-played content display layer 160 isplaying a TV drama 1, a screen shot instruction from a user is received,and a screen shot of a currently-played scene is successfully captured,so that the screen shot display bar 1710 presents a thumbnail of thecaptured screen shot. Furthermore, keywords related to the thumbnail areacquired by performing identification processing on the thumbnail, suchas a character keyword “Role A”, a keyword “Actress a” portraying “RoleA”, a keyword “B TV station” obtained by identifying the TV station logoof the “B TV station”, a keyword “interactions between sisters”,obtained by identifying a drama's setting, and a keyword “Pure colorround collar female woolen sweater” obtained by identifying the clothingof the characters in the screen shot. It is noted that theabove-mentioned image identification process can be performed locally orby a third-party server to acquire those keywords.

According to the above keywords, the recommended content display bars1730 to 1790 are respectively used to display the keywords, such as“Role A”, “Actress a”, “B TV station”, “interactions between sisters”and “Pure color round collar female woolen sweater”, in the aboveexample, content profiles related to these identified keywords, and thesources or types of the content profiles. For example, if the keyword“Role A” is displayed in the recommended content display bar 1730, thecontent profile includes a webpage recommended content for introducing“Role A” from a C website, and the icon of the “C” website representsthe source of the recommended content, which is specifically as follows:

the keyword “Actress a” is displayed in the recommended content displaybar 1740, and the content profiles includes a webpage recommendedcontent for introducing “Actress a”” from “D News”.

The website icon of the “D News” represents the source of therecommended content. For another example, in the recommended contentdisplay bar 1750, the content profile is from a webpage recommendedcontent of the E Weibo.

If the keyword “B TV station” is displayed in the recommended contentdisplay bar 1760, the content profile includes recommended informationof a program preview list like “15:07 a TV drama name . . . ”, and theword “Program guide” represents the type of the recommended information.

If the keyword “interactions between sisters” is displayed in therecommended content display bar 1770, the content profiles includesrecommended information of stills of a TV drama named after“interactions between sisters”, and the word “Video” represents the typeof the recommended information.

The recommended content display bar 1780 is configured to display akeyword “Buy It!”, and the content profile includes recommended photosof similar costumes, and the website icon “F Online shopping website”represents the source of the recommended photos.

The keyword “Pure color round collar female woolen sweater” is displayedin the recommended content display bar 1790, and the content profileincludes recommended photos, price information and the like of similarcostumes, and the website icon “Shopping” represents the source of therecommended photos.

The option bars in the screen shot content display layer in FIG. 11 areeach associated with a service or application corresponding to a silo.For example, the recommended content display bar and/or the associatedcontrol instruction display bar are each correspondingly associated witha related service or application. When the user selects an option bar,the corresponding service or application of the option bar is activatedin response to the user selection. For another example, the recommendedcontent display bars 1730 to 1759 and 1780 to 1790 are associated withapplications of the browser. The recommended content display bar 1760 isassociated with the live TV service application of the silo “Live TV”;the recommended content display bar 1770 is associated with the video ondemand application of the silo “Video on demand”; the “Screen shotshare” display bar 1720 is associated with a share function application;and the “Input a search keyword by voice” display bar is associated witha voice recognition application.

The screen shot content display layer 170 provides access interfaces forusers without interfering the currently-played content display layer160. That is, when the screen shot content display layer 170 isdisplayed, the user can still watch the content in the currently-playedcontent display layer 160. For example, the screen shot content displaylayer 170 may be semitransparent to show (namely the user can stillwatch) the content displayed in the currently-played content displaylayer 160. The screen shot content display layer 170 allows the user toquickly enter a core function of the smart TV 100, so that the user cansee the content activated by triggering the screen shot in thecurrently-played content display layer 160 all the time. Furthermore,the screen shot content display layer 170 can provide a consistent userexperience of all the applications and contain important contextcontent.

The plurality of option bars in the screen shot content display layer170 can be sorted based on functions and content, including: webpagetext content recommendations, such as: C Baike (or wikipedia) 1730, DNews 1740, E Weibo (or blog) 1750, and Video on demand recommendation1770; and shopping webpage or application recommendations, such as: FOnline shopping 1780, Built-in application shopping 1790 and screen QRcode 1798, and New function introduction 1799 displayed on thebottommost layer. The screen shot content display layer 170 can berepresented by an icon, a text or shortcut, respectively, to describecontent found from different media applications. The search contentincludes texts that include, but not limited to, names (if the search isfor identified items brands or similar brands thereof are displayed),titles and main bodies.

In some examples, the user can set the number of lines of a body throughthe system configuration, such as: not more than four lines. The usercan select the option bars in the list to navigate to correspondingcontent.

The position selected or pre-selected by a user is displayed in a focusframe 150 in the screen shot content display layer 170. For example, thefocus frame 150 contains a square frame located around the screen shot.Although the square frame is used in the description, other methods orconfigurations can also be used to select and/or identify the icons. Forexample, in addition to the square frame, the focus frame 150 may alsoadjust the icons of 1720 and the like and the backgrounds of the textsto make the colors, shadows or hues different. Alternatively oradditionally, the focus frame 150 may contain magnified icons or texts.

In some examples, the content of the plurality of option bars can bedisplayed on basis of the user selection in a moving (such as: rollingor sliding) manner. Each option corresponds to a searched or recommendedcontent source, and the type of the content source includes webpage,video, TV program, shopping or QR code.

The content in the option bars is presented as a scrolling or slidingcyclic list, so that the user can search content of interestconveniently, such as: browsing forward or backward. When the lastoption bar has been browsed through, the page either keeps still orautomatically skips to the first option bar.

For the GUI which is presented in response to a screen shot instructionfrom a user, search results include webpage applications, videoapplications, TV program applications, shopping applications and thelike, and specifically, the search result comprises one or more of therecommended items mentioned above. The types of recommended items canalso be configured by a user. For example, the user can decide whichtype or types of recommended items to display.

Exemplarily, the webpage content source recommendations are generatedbased on search of a third-party, and a webpage content recommendationrelated to the screen shot content is displayed by identifying thescreen shot content, such as: one or more of following sources: BD Baike1730, News&Gossip 1740 and Weibo 1750.

In the TV program content recommendations, a third-party applicationperforms image identification on a TV station logo in a video screenshot to display the program guide 1760 of a TV source under this TVstation logo.

The video content recommendation is presented in the video recommendedcontent option bar 1770, and a video recommendation related to thescreen shot content may be displayed by the third-party application byidentifying the screen shot content. A video that is ultimately foundfor presentation may be a TV drama, a movie or a short webpage videoassociated with the video content or a currently-played content.

In the shopping content recommendation, the third-party applicationidentifies the screen shot content to display online shoppinginformation of commodities related to the screen shot content. Theonline shopping information includes one or more of the following items:an F shopping application, a built-in shopping application (such asJuxianggou, amazon, or the like), or a TV shopping channel, and thelike.

For QR code displaying, the third-party application generates acorresponding QR code for the screen shot content, and QR codeinformation and a thumbnail of the screen shot are synchronouslyuploaded to the third-party server, so that the user can identify the QRcode by scanning, download pictures from the third-party server to theclient, or perform other user operations.

The present disclosure will take an example of playing the TV drama 1 todescribe the GUI displayed by the user operation of triggering thescreen shot in detail below.

For example, when the video content of “Role A” in the drama is played,the screen shot operation is triggered by clicking the remote controlleror touching the screen or making a gesture, thus presenting the screenshot content to the GUI of the display device. The currently-playedcontent display layer 160 still plays the content of the next moment ofthe video, and a plurality of option bar lists appear in the screen shotcontent display layer 170 on the right.

Then, the first option bar displays a thumbnail of the screen shot 1710.

The second option bar displays the control instruction display bar 1720“Share screen shot”.

The third option bar is a search option bar 1730 for displaying “CBaike”-related content provided by the third-party application. Thisoption bar is divided into two bars. “Role A” is displayed on the leftof the first bar, and the LOGO of the search source “C Baike” isdisplayed on the right. Search content (such as basic introduction,personality and temperament and current living conditions) is displayedin the second bar. The option bar may not display full searched content.For example, the body includes not more than four lines, and theremaining portions are hidden.

The fourth option bar is a News & Gossip option bar 1740 for displayingD News-related content provided by the third-party application. Theoption bar is divided into two bars. The first bar displays “Actress a”on the left, and displays the LOGO of the search source “D News” on theright. The second bar displays entries of search content.

The fifth option bar is a TV program option bar 1760 for displaying “BTV station”-related content, which is searched by the third-partyapplication by identifying the TV station logo of the video play sourceor the content display layer. This option bar is divided into two bars.The first bar displays “B TV station” on the left, and displays thesearch source “Program guide” on the right. The second bar displays thedetails of the program guide, including, but not limited to, a time listand titles of programs played at corresponding time points.

The sixth option bar is a video content option bar 1770 for displaying“Video”-related content in which this role involves, which is searchedby the third-party application by identifying a role in the playedvideo. This option bar is divided into two bars. The first bar displaysanother popular video in which this role participates on the left, anddisplays the search source “Video” on the right. The second bar displaysvideo pictures.

The seventh option bar is a shopping option bar 1780 for displaying “Fonline shopping website”-related content, which is searched by thethird-party application by identifying clothes and jewels of the role inthe video and same or similar to the clothes and jewels of thecharacter. This option bar is divided into two bars. The first bardisplays “Buy It” on the left, and displays the LOGO of the searchsource “F online shopping website” on the right. The second bar displayscommodity pictures.

The eighth option bar is a built-in shopping application option bar 1790for searching content which are the same or similar to the clothes andjewels of the role in the video in related option bars based on theshopping application. This option bar is divided into two bars. Thefirst bar displays a commodity name which is the same or similar to theclothes and jewels of the role on the left, and displays the searchsource “Juxianggou” on the right side. The second bar displays acommodity cover picture on the left, and displays the commodity name andthe commodity price on the right.

The ninth option bar is a screen QR code option bar 1798 provided by thethird-party application and used for converting a screen shot into ascreen QR code. This option bar is divided into two bars. The first bardisplays “Identify screen QR code” on the left, and displays the searchsource “QR code”. The second bar displays a QR code screen shot.

The tenth option bar is a new function introduction option bar 1799“Coming Soon”, which indicates a new function is coming soon.

As mentioned above, the content displayed in the option bars on thescreen shot content display layer 170 depend on the content acquiredfrom the screen shot. The plurality of option bars also providecustomized information of the respective applications. The screen shotcontent display layer 170 is formed by combining application optionbars, such as: one or more function option bars and one or more contentoption bars. There is one function option bar, namely a functionindication bar, such as: Screen shot share 1720 and Input a searchkeyword by voice. There are at least two content option bars. The firstbar is a navigation bar configured to display an icon of an applicationand an application name, and the user can select to activate theapplication, such as C Baike, D News and E Weibo. The second bar is acontent region that displays related recommended content found in theabove application. The content region can be updated.

Further, in some examples, as shown in FIG. 12 , the content displayedin the option bars of the screen shot content display layer 170 includesat least one type of the following items: plain text, images and bothtext and image.

For example, for option bars in plain text, each text option bar can bedivided into an upper bar and a lower bar. The name 1801 of the searchsource is displayed on the right of the first bar, such as: C Baike, DNews, E Weibo and F shopping, and the title, theme or search keyword1802 of a search result is displayed on the left of the first bar. Thesecond bar displays a searched body 1803. The body is generally in atext form, and includes not more than four lines. The exceeding part isexpressed by ellipsis at the end of the fourth line. The user can setthe number of lines, font, color and the size of the body text in thesystem. This display mode is more suitable for C Baike presentation andE Weibo presentation.

For another example, for option bars in images, the option bar can bedivided into an upper bar and a lower bar. The name 1801 of the searchsource is displayed on the right of the first bar, such as: C Baike, DNews, E Weibo and F shopping, and the title, theme or keyword 1802 of asearch result is displayed on the left of the first bar. The second bardisplays not more than three found pictures 1811.

For another example, for option bars in both image and text, the optionbar can be divided into an upper bar and a lower bar. The name 1801 ofthe search source is displayed on the right of the first bar, such as: CBaike, D News, E Weibo and F shopping, and the title, theme or keyword1802 of a search result is displayed on the left of the first bar. Thesecond bar displays searched pictures and picture introductions 1821. Ifit is displayed that the entry is from F shopping, F shopping isdisplayed on the right side of the first bar, and the title of Fshopping is displayed on the left side; and a picture of a F shoppingcommodity is displayed on the left of the second bar, and basicinformation (such as size, color and price) of the commodity isdisplayed on the right side of the second bar.

In some examples, the option bars of the screen shot content displaylayer 170 also display function option bars. As shown in FIG. 12 , thefunction option bar card is half the height of the content option bar,is plain text by default, has a size consistent with the size of thetitle of the content option bar (such as Screen shot share 1831 and Newfunction introduction icon “Coming Soon” 1832), and can also be freelydesigned (such as Input a search keyword by voice).

As previously described, the GUI can present a display object with anoption bar. The user selects the option bar to browse various types ofsearch content, and when the option bar is selected through the remotecontroller, the gesture or the touch on the screen, information of theselected information type in the current option bar is presented to theuser. For example, when selected, the option bar makes a list of adescription, a summary and a related text or a picture descriptor. Thecontent profile is displayed in the content display layer, and the usercan move the focus frame of the option bar onto an icon or a userinterface pattern through the remote controller, the gesture or thetouch on the screen. When moving the focus frame, the user can selectthe content corresponding to the option bar through the remotecontroller, gesture or touch on the screen again, and will read moredetailed content associated therewith, as shown in FIGS. 15A to 15D.

As shown in FIG. 13 , when the user moves the focus frame to select thescreen shot display bar 1710, the screen shot is displayed on the screenshot content display layer 170, and three continuously captured shotthumbnails spread and extend from right to left to the currently-playedcontent display layer 160 for user selection, and the user can alsopre-configure the number of continuously captured thumbnail images. Onone hand, the user can re-select one of the above multiple screen shotpictures for the search operation again, so that the user can accuratelyobtain a desired image during the screen shot operation. On the otherhand, the user can watch, access, and/or post social content related tothe selected screen shot from his/her social network.

When the user selects the “Screen shot share” option bar 1720, thescreen shot can be transmitted to other clients through “intranet” and“external network”, such as: a mobile phone and a tablet computer.

The user installs an application associated with the smart TV 100 onanother client, for example, the Hisense assistant APP is downloaded andinstalled on another client, and then the “intranet” performstransmission through a network link between the client and the smart TV.At this time, a detail page of screen shot on the client providesprompts such as “if your phone and the TV are in the same network, youcan directly open the application, such as a TV micro assistantassociated with the smart TV” for the user to obtain the screen shot. Ifthe application of the mobile phone is running in the background, themobile will pop a prompt for the user upon receiving a push notificationfrom the TV. If the application is not running in the background, theuser needs to open the application. If the TV is connected, the mobilephone can request for the screen shot information on its own initiativeand determines whether this information “has been read” by the user. IfNO, a prompt is popped out to the user.

By the “external network”, images are uploaded to a server, and a userobtains a screen shot by opening a webpage with this screen shot. Theopening of the webpage can be realized by scanning a corresponding QRcode. FIG. 14 illustrates an exemplary GUI for selecting the “Screenshot share” option bar through the external network. When the userselects the “Screen shot share” option bar, the “external network”uploads the images to the server, and the GUI includes thecurrently-played content display layer 160, the screen shot contentdisplay layer 170, and a QR code window 202 overlaying on the optionbar. The QR code window displays a QR code of webpage where the screenshots store, and the user obtains the screen shots by opening thewebpage with the QR code information. If the client is a mobile phonerunning Android system, the user can directly align a scanning regionwith the QR code in the display layer for scanning to download theimages. If it is a mobile phone running iOS system, the scanning regionis aligned with the display layer of the TV and a long press is made,thereby realizing the purpose of downloading the images.

For the window information 202, the user will be required to connect anytype of device to the TV 100 or a TV 100-associated network, so as toextract stored or established media such as images and videos to the TV100. Once the scanning is done, the mobile phone can store the contentdisplayed through the media center silo.

FIG. 15A illustrates an example GUI for selecting the “C Baike” optionbar by the user. In the illustrated embodiment, a C Baike informationwindow 203 is displayed on the option bars in the screen shot contentdisplay layer 170. The C Baike information window 203 overlays thescreen shot content display layer 170, such as: a Logo bar 2031, analbum bar 2032, an associated word bar 2033 and an entry detail bar2034. The Logo bar 2031 displays the C Baike Logo, and the album bar2032 displays screen shots, item pictures and albums. The associatedword bar 2033 displays a tag or a meaning item, and content notcompletely displayed in the detail bar 2034 at the bottom of the screenare replaced with an ellipsis. When the user selects the detail bar2034, a text introduction for introducing the screen shot and relatedinformation is displayed. As shown in FIG. 15B, the user can browsecontent of interest in a sliding manner by clicking the remotecontroller, making a gesture or touching the screen.

Displaying the associated word bar 2033 during playing of the video ofthe TV drama 1 is taken as an example, such as: TV drama 1, role G, roleH, role I, role J and role K. The entry detail bar 2034 includes anoverview, basic information and the body of the entry. The user obtainsrelatively comprehensive introduction information from a screen shotpage to learn more related resources.

FIG. 15C illustrates a scenario where a user moves the focus frame tothe album bar 2032, and selects the album bar 2032, and a new image listwindow 204 overlays on the C Baike information window 203 for displayingrelated image lists, and the focus frame can be moved up and down in theimage list window 204 to select pictures that you want to view further.Once the user focuses on any of the pictures in the picture list window204, another GUI for interacting with the selected picture is providedto the user, and an image window 205 covers part of the image listwindow 204 and displays a single image. If the image is displayed in itsentirety, it is viewed as a full-screen square, as described withreference to FIG. 15D.

In some embodiments, in a scenario where content in Baike is notcomplete, the content may not include any one or more of the album bar,the keyword bar, the Logo bar and the entry detail bar. For example, noalbums and keywords are displayed, and only the entry detail bar isdisplayed, or no related word bar is displayed, and the album bar andthe entry detail bar are displayed.

FIG. 16A illustrates a GUI example where the news option bar 1740 isselected by the user. In the example, the GUI comprises a news eventlist window 301, which floats above the screen shot content displaylayer 170. Furthermore, the news event list includes a plurality of newsevent option bars, each of which describes a news event, including adate, a title (for example: the title is set to include no more thanfive lines, portions beyond the five lines of the title are hidden, and“ . . . ” is used at the end of the fifth line to indicate that thetitle is hidden), and a picture (for example: you can select to displayor not display a picture in setting configuration, and if you select todisplay a picture, three pictures can be displayed in the form ofthumbnail at most).

FIG. 16B illustrates a scenario where a user selects a specific newsevent option bar, namely the news event window 302, and then the newsevent window 302 floats above the news event list window 301 in responseto the user's selection. Here, news events selected by the news eventoption bar 3021 spread fully, including the titles, post date, texts andpictures of all the news records, while the unselected news event optionbars 3022 still only displays the title and part of the pictures. Thenot displayed parts can be viewed by scrolling the list.

FIG. 17A illustrates an example GUI where a user selects the “programguide” option bar. In the example, the GUI includes a program guide listwindow 401. The program list window 401 floats above the screen shotcontent display layer 170. When a TV program channel is identified, aprogram guide list of the TV program channel is displayed, such as:names of programs to be played at the next time period or being played.“B TV station” is taken as an example. The program guide list window 401displays program teasers to be played by the B TV in the next timeperiod, including two columns, one column showing names 4011 and playtime 4012 of programs to be played in the next period, and the othercolumn showing program schedule icons 4013. When the program scheduleicon of a desired program is chosen by a user, a reminder will be sentto the user when a scheduled time corresponding to the desired programreaches. The program guide list window 401 presents introduction listsof all the programs in a multi-line form.

FIG. 17B illustrates a GUI example where a user selects the programschedule option bar 4013. When the user selects and confirms the programschedule icon 4013, the content display layer shows a schedule remindingbar 1601 indicating that a reminder will be sent to the user before theprogram starts.

FIG. 17C shows a GUI example where a user selects the program nameoption bar 4013. In the example, a third-party video application isactivated to store video content that had been played in the past. A newprogram episode number list window 402 floats above the program guidelist window 401 for displaying the number of episodes of a program thathad been played in the past, and the user can select to play theprogram. When a specific episode is selected, the currently-playedcontent display layer 160 displays a skip reminding bar 1602 “skip after5 seconds” to activate another video application silo (e.g., a video ondemand application, or a TV live broadcast application), and theselected program is played through the video application, or the usercan select “Back” to continue to play the program of the current silo,as described with reference to FIG. 17D.

After the user selects controls on the above GUI, the smart TV 100 canprovide the user with the silo content conveniently and quickly, suchas: playing TV broadcast signals, presenting a menu for VOD or providingprevious video displayed in the VOD application, displaying one or moreimages or menus to select images in the media center, displaying menusor applications previously executed in the application silo, ordisplaying other types of silo content. Thus, based on the silo and thecontent displayed by the silo, the user can perform logical andsituation interaction with the TV 100.

FIG. 18 illustrates a GUI example where a video on demand option bar isselected by a user. In the example, the GUI includes a video option barlist window 501, which floats above the screen shot content displaylayer 170, and the video option bar includes rating scores, a movieposter and a movie name. Under this option bar, the video on demand(VOD) silo is activated, and the video option bar list window 501 isdisplayed as a plurality of video option bars that are highly similar tosuch videos, or video content, in which the user is highly interested,of currently-provided media content, such as: war films, murder suspensefilms, musicals and comedies that are favored by the user.

In some examples, each line of the video option bar list includes videoinformation related to a currently-played video. The video content mostrelated to the currently-played video is located at the topmost end ofthe video option bar list. The video option bar list window 501 is ascrolling video option bar list (after the last related content isdisplayed, the user can skip to the first related content without goingback to the first display content in order) or a sliding video optionbar list.

FIG. 19A illustrates a GUI example for selecting the shopping option bar1790. In the example, the GUI includes a shopping information listwindow 601, which floats above the screen shot content display layer170. The shopping information list window 601 includes a plurality ofcommodity introduction sub-option bars 6011, a “Scan QR code” sub-optionbar 6012, and a shopping application skip sub-option bar 6013. In someexamples, when the user selects the commodity introduction option bar,the commodity introduction option bar is folded, and the shoppinginformation list window 601 specifically displays commodity details(including dimensions, sizes, colors and specifications).

In some examples, when the user selects the “Scan QR code” option bar,the QR code is magnified to the entire shopping information list window601 and presented in square, and more commodity information is obtainedfrom the mobile phone through the mobile phone scanning.

In some examples, when the user selects the shopping application skipoption bar 6013, the system shopping application (such as Juxianggou) isin a to-be-activated state, and the skip option bar 1603 is displayed atthe bottom of the currently-played content display layer 160, includinga prompt for indicating skip (such as skip after 5 seconds) and a promptfor indicating going backward. When the user selects the prompt forindicating skip, the system activates the shopping application and skipsto a TV shopping page to facilitate shopping on TV, as described withreference to FIG. 19B.

As shown in FIG. 20 , some embodiments provide an example of a method2000 for displaying an application through screen shot capturing.Although FIG. 20 shows a general execution order of the method 2000, themethod 2000 may include more or fewer steps, or the steps may bearranged in an order different from that of the method 2000 as shown inFIG. 20 .

The method 2000 is a set of computer-executable instructions that can beexecuted by a computer system or processor, encoded or stored on acomputer-readable medium, or specifically embodied as circuits in anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a field programmablegate array (FPGA) that can perform the method. In the following, themethod 2000 will be explained with reference to the system, components,modules, data structures, user interfaces and the like illustrated inFIGS. 1 to 21 .

In Step 2002, the driver receives a screen shot signal, from the remotecontroller, a gesture, or a touch on the screen. The screen shot signalwill be transmitted to the input event transmitter. The input eventtransmitter 508 determines whether the signal is from a player accordingto information from the driver 420.

In Step 2003, if the signal is from the player, the screen shotoperation is performed by a screen shot mode 1, if the signal is notfrom the player, the operation is performed by a screen shot mode 2.

In Step 2005, whether the screen shot operation is successful isdetermined. If the screen shot operation is successful, the operation ofStep 2020 is performed, and otherwise, the operation of Step 2006 isperformed.

In Step 2006, “Screen shot failure” is prompted. Then, Step 2007 isexecuted, in which whether there is third-party keyword. If YES, thehome page list is continued, but there is no screen shot relatedfunction, and the screen shot event is ended in Step 2008. If NO, thecurrently-displayed page still continues, no keywords is displayed onscreen shots and sidebars, so that no functions and content can beprovided, and the screen shot event is ended in Step 2009.

In Step 2020, whether there is a third-party keyword is determined. IfNO, Step 2026 is executed to step into the home page list, only a screenshot is acquired, a TV station logo may be identified, and only screenshot related information is provided. If YES, Step 2022 is executed tooptimize keywords and/or search the optimized keywords, and then Step2024 is executed to normally step into the home page list. Keywords andsidebar information of the keyword option bar are displayed. FIG. 21shows four different exemplary GUIs (1010A, 1010B, 1010C, or 1010D), onwhich a user triggers a screen shot capturing instruction.

FIG. 22 illustrates a process 2100 for screen shot capturing accordingto some embodiments. As shown in the figure, the process 2100 begins byreceiving (at 2105) a command for uploading the screen shot to a photosharing website. The application can receive the command via a remotecontroller button, a gesture or a touch on the screen or the like.

The process then determines (at 2110) to capture multiple screen shotsbefore and after the time point of the command, and display them on thescreen shot content display layer 170 in thumbnail, and not all thescreen shot images are displayed on the sidebar, but only one thumbnailis displayed. When the user selects thumbnails of the screen shots (at2115), the thumbnail on the sidebar is spread to the currently-playedcontent display layer 160, and all of the screen shot pictures arepresented to the user to provide options. After the user selects aspecific screen shot, the process determines that the image (2120) isstored in an image storage region (such as a photo album) of the smartTV 100, and creates a log.

FIG. 23 illustrates a process 2200 for sharing a screen shot to anotherclient according to certain embodiments. Although FIG. 14 refers to awebsite that shares screen shots, this can be a “photo sharing” websiteor a social media application (such as a chat tool). As shown in thefigure, the process 2200 begins by receiving (at 2205) an input fortriggering screen shot share and a command for uploading an image to aphoto sharing website. The application can receive the command via auser interaction such as a remote controller button, a gesture or atouch on the screen or the like.

The process then determines (at 2210) whether another client isassociated with the smart TV, that is, an application associated withthe smart TV is installed in the client such that the smart TV and theclient can directly exchange data. An application for data exchangebetween the user and the client is specially installed in the smart TV.The user installs the application associated with the smart TV 100 onanother client (for example, the Hisense assistant APP is downloaded andinstalled on another client), and then the “intranet” performstransmission through the built network link. At this time, the otherclient shares a detail page of screen shot to explain “if your phone andthe TV are in the same network, you can directly open the application(such as: “Hisense TV micro assistant”) associated with the smart TV″ tothe user to capture a screen shot.

When another client of the user is associated with the smart TV 100, theprocess determines (at 2220) whether the associated application isrunning in the background. The user may possibly have opened theassociated application. In the application interface or when theapplication is running in the background, namely when the TV transmits ascreen shot message, the user can receive it immediately. The processdetermines (at 2225) that the TV will prompt a push message to the user,and transmits a screen shot image to the client to prompt the user toreceive the message. At this point, the process is ended, and the userreceives the image shared by the smart TV on the other client.Otherwise, when the associated application is not opened, the user inthe process 2222 needs to initiate the application and pull to acquirescreen shot information, and then the process is ended.

When another client of the user is not associated with the smart TV 100,the process 2215 outputs a QR code with screen shot information in thescreen shot content display layer 170, and the client scans the QR codeon the smart TV 100 through a website that shares screen shots or asocial media application (such as a chat tool) and then reduces the QRcode into image information. The process is ended.

FIGS. 24A to 24B are flow diagrams of an exemplary process (2300A and2300B) for selecting C Baike. As shown in the figure, the process 2300Abegins by receiving (at 2305) an input for triggering screen shotsharing and a command for image identification. The application canreceive the command via a user interaction such as a remote controllerbutton, a gesture or a touch on the screen or the like.

The apparatus searches in the third-party application in response to (at2310) analysis of a screen shot content or an identified image, andgenerates a GUI including display objects for displaying as searchresults (at 2315). The display object has an option bar available to theuser and configured to provide accesses to different third-partyapplications. This option bar generally describes the search content ofthe third-party applications. The option bars presented in the sidebarform a list such that the user can browse and view the content in asliding or waterfall manner.

In some examples, (at 2320) the apparatus detects that the user selectsa webpage third-party application (such as C Baike, FIG. 15A), and thenprovides a new window (at 2325) in the sidebar of the GUI to provide anaccess to the information window for C Baike searching. The informationwindow 203 is a side information window floating in the screen shotcontent display layer 170, and corresponds to any one or more of thealbum bar, the keyword bar and the entry detail bar. In someembodiments, in a case where content in C Baike is incomplete, any oneor more of the album bar, the keyword bar and the entry detail bar maynot be included. For example, no albums and keywords are displayed, andonly the entry detail bar is displayed, or no associated word bar isdisplayed, and the album bar and the entry detail bar are displayed.

In the illustrated example, the user selects the focus frame of adescription bar 2034, resulting in presentation of the GUI as shown inFIG. 15B. In some examples, the album bar 2032, the keyword bar 2033 andthe Logo bar 2031 does not change their positions, and the content ofthe entry detail bar will all be spread, and then slide up with theselection of the user.

In the illustrated example, when the user selects the focus frame of thealbum bar 2032, the GUI of FIG. 15C is displayed. The process 2330receives a user input for selecting the album bar in the C Baikeinformation window, and then provides an image list window 204 (at 2335)in the sidebar of the GUI to provide an access to an image list found inC Baike. The image list window 204 is a side information window floatingin the screen shot content display layer 170, includes thumbnails of atleast three images, and can be slid to view images not shown below (forexample, the GUI as shown in FIG. 15C).

In some examples, the user can view the thumbnails only in the imagelist window without further selecting the images. In some examples, theuser can exit from the image list window 204 to the previous option baror exit the screen shot content display layer 170 to browse the videocontent played in the currently-played content display layer 160 in fullscreen.

When a user wants to further select an image (at 2340), the apparatusdetects (2345) a command of the user for selecting the image option barin the image list window, and displays a selected image window 205 inthe GUI. The image window 205 floats above the image list window 204,and displays a single image. If the image is displayed completely, it isviewed as a full-screen square, as described with reference to FIG. 15D.

FIG. 25 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process 3100 for selecting thenews option bar. As shown in the figure, the process 3100 begins byreceiving (at 3105) an input for triggering screen shot sharing and acommand for image identification. The application can receive thecommand via a user interaction such as a remote controller button, agesture or a touch on the screen or the like.

The apparatus searches in the third-party application in response to (at3110) analysis of a screen shot content or an identified image, andgenerates a GUI including display objects for displaying as a searchresult (at 3115). The display object has an option bar available to theuser and configured to provide accesses to different third-partyapplications. This option bar generally describes the search content ofthe third-party applications. The option bars presented in the sidebarform a list such that the user can browse and view the content in asliding or waterfall or scrolling manner.

In some examples, (at 3120) the apparatus detects that the user selectsa webpage third-party application (such as D News, FIG. 16A), and thenprovides a new window (at 3125) in the sidebar of the GUI to provide anaccess to the news event list window. The news event list window 301 isa side information window floating on the screen shot content displaylayer 170, and corresponds to a plurality of news event option bars. Anews event option bar describes a news event, specifically including adate, a title (the title is set to include no more than five lines,portions beyond the five lines of the title are hidden, and “ . . . ” isused at the end of the fifth line to indicate that the title is hidden),and an image (you can select to display or not display an image duringsetting, and if you select to display an image, three images can bedisplayed in a thumbnail form at most).

In some examples, the user can only read headline news and/orintroductions at the news event list window without further selecting toread news. In some examples, the user can exit from the news event listwindow 301 to the previous option bar or exit the screen shot contentdisplay layer 170 to browse the video content played in thecurrently-played content display layer 160 in full screen.

When the user wants to read details of a news event (at 3130), theapparatus detects (3135) a command of the user for selecting a commandof the news event option bar in the news event list window, and displaysa selected image window 302 in the GUI (at 3140). In the illustratedexample, the user selects the focus frame corresponding to the firstnews event option bar, resulting in presentation of the GUI as shown inFIG. 16B. A news event window 302 is activated, and floats above thenews event list window 301. News events described by the selected newsevent option bar 3021 are all spread, including the titles, post time,texts and images of all the news records, while the unselected newsevent option bar 3022 still only displays the title and part of theimages. The not displayed parts can be viewed by scrolling the list.

FIGS. 26A to 26C are flow diagrams of an exemplary process 4100 forselecting the program guide option bar. FIG. 26A describes a flowdiagram of a program schedule process under a program guide according tothe present disclosure. The process 4100 begins by receiving (at 4105)an input for triggering screen shot sharing and a command for imageidentification. The application can receive the command via a set ofuser interactions such as pressing a remote controller button, a gestureor a touch on the screen or through certain transformations.

The apparatus searches on a third-party application in response to (at4110) analysis result of a screen shot content or an identified image,and generates a GUI including a display object for displaying based on asearch result (at 4115). The display object has at least one differentavailable option bar for a user to access in the third-partyapplication. These option bar include general descriptions with respectto the search content from the third-party application. The option barspresented in the sidebar form a list such that a user can browse andview the content in a sliding, scrolling or waterfall manner.

In some examples, (at 4120) the apparatus detects that the user selectsa TV program third-party application, and then provides a new programguide window (at 4125) in the sidebar of the GUI, which provides anaccess to the program option bar. When the third-party applicationidentifies that a video played in the currently-played content displaylayer 160 is from a satellite TV video channel, the TV station logo isanalyzed, and then a program guide to be played in the satellite TVcorresponding to the TV station logo is displayed, as shown in FIG. 16A.The program guide list window 401 is a side information window floatingon the screen shot content display layer 170, and corresponds to aplurality of program option bars. Each of the program option barsincludes an option bar for a program name and an option bar forschedule.

The apparatus receives (at 4130) a request for scheduling a program at anext time period, and then pops a prompt for indicating the schedule issuccessful in the content display layer of the GUI (as shown in FIG.17B) (at 4135). In some examples, the user can select to exit from theprogram guide window 401 to the screen shot content display layer 170,or exit the from screen shot content display layer 170 such that thevideo content in the currently-played content display layer 160 isplayed in full screen.

In some examples, when a user wants to check a updated program series ofa program name, the user selects the program name in the program optionbar in the program guide window 401, the apparatus receives (at 4230)instructions associated with the selected program name option bar. Here,the third-party video application is activated to store video contentthat had been updated in the past. In the exemplary GUI as shown in FIG.17C, a new program episode number list window 402 floats above theprogram guide list window 401 for displaying the episode number of theprogram that had been played in the past (at 4235). The two topmostmarked option bars are video content for program preview.

When selecting a certain specific episode, the apparatus (at 4240)receives a user input for selecting a program episode option bar underthe program name. The received user input can be a click on a remotecontroller button, a gesture or a touch on the screen. Thecurrently-played content display layer 160 of a main display panel (at4245) displays the skip reminder 1602 “skip after 5 seconds” and thenskips to play a program selected by another silo (and the third-partyvideo application), and the video content of a selected past program isdisplayed (at 4260) in the GUI.

In some embodiments, the apparatus detects (at 4250) a user command,which is selecting “Back” in the skip reminder bar, and then the GUI (at4255) exits from the screen shot content display layer 170 and continuesto play the program of the current silo, as described with reference toFIG. 17D.

FIG. 27 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process for selecting video ondemand in a video playing application. As shown in FIG. 27 , the process5100 is to receive (5105) an input for triggering screen shot sharingand a command for image identification. The application can receive thecommand via a set of user interactions such as pressing a remotecontroller button, a gesture or a touch on the screen or through certaintransformations.

The apparatus searches on a third-party application in response to (at5110) analysis result of a screen shot content or an identified image,and generates a GUI including a display object for displaying based on asearch result (at 5115). The display object has one or more differentavailable option bars for the user to access to the third-partyapplication. The option bars includes general descriptions with respectto the search content of the third-party application. The option barspresented in the sidebar form a list such that the user can browse andview the content in a sliding or waterfall manner.

In some examples, when the apparatus detects (at 5120) that the userselects a video third-party application (a video application built inthe smart TV, such as Juhaokan; or skipping to another video playapplication, such as iQiyi and PPTV, FIG. 18 ), a new window (such as avideo option bar list window, at 5125) is provided in the sidebar of theGUI to provide an access to the searched related video list window. Thevideo option bar list window 501 is a side information window floatingon the screen shot content display layer 170, and includes a ratingscore, a movie poster and a movie name. Under this option bar, the videoon demand silo is activated, and the video option bar list window 501 isdisplayed as a plurality of video option bars that are highly related tosuch videos, or the video option bar list window 501 is displayed as acertain type of videos which the user is more interested amongcurrently-provided media content (such as: war movies, murder suspensefilms, musicals and comedies that are favored by the user). The videooption bar list window 501 is a scrolling video option bar list (afterthe last related content is displayed, the user can skip to the firstrelated content without going back to the first display content inorder) or a sliding video option bar list.

In the illustrated example, when the apparatus receives a request forselecting a focus frame of the video option bar (at 5130), the GUIsimilar to that of FIG. 17D is displayed. When a certain specificepisode is selected (at 5135), the apparatus receives a user input forselecting a program episode option bar under the program name. Thereceived user input can be a click on a remote controller button, agesture or a touch on the screen. The currently-played content displaylayer 160 of a main display panel (at 5140) displays a skip reminder bar1602 “skip after 5 seconds” and then skips to play a program fromanother silo (and the third-party video application), and the videocontent of a selected past program is displayed (at 5160) in the GUI.

In some embodiments, the apparatus detects (at 5145) a user command,which is selecting “Back” in the skip reminder option bar, and then theGUI (at 5150) exits from the screen shot content display layer 170 andcontinues to play the program of the current silo. In some examples, theuser can exit from the video option bar list window 501 to the previousoption bar or exit the screen shot content display layer 170 to browsethe video content currently played in the currently-played contentdisplay layer 160 in full screen.

FIG. 28A is a flow diagram of an exemplary process 6100A for selecting ashopping third-party application. As shown in FIG. 28 , the process6100A is to receive (at 6105) an input for triggering screen shotsharing and a command for image identification. The application canreceive the command via a set of user interactions such as pressing aremote controller button, a gesture or a touch on the screen or throughcertain transformations.

The apparatus searches on a third-party application in response to (at6110) analysis result of a screen shot content or an identified image,and generates a GUI including a display object for displaying based on asearch result (at 6115). The display object has one or more differentavailable option bar for the user to access to the third-partyapplication. The option bars include general descriptions with respectto the search content of the third-party application. The option barspresented in the sidebar form a list such that the user can browse andview the content in a sliding or waterfall manner.

In some examples, as shown in FIG. 28B (6100B), when the apparatusdetects (at 6120) that the user selects a shopping third-partyapplication (a shopping application built in the smart TV, such asJuxianggou; or skipping to another shopping application, FIG. 19 ), anew window (such as a shopping information list window, at 6125) isprovided in the sidebar of the GUI to provide an access to the searchedrelated commodity list window. The shopping information list window 601is a side information window floating on the screen shot content displaylayer 170, and corresponds to a commodity introduction option bar 6011(displaying of specific content depends on specific cooperation), a“Scan QR code” option bar 6012 and a shopping application skip optionbar 6013. Under this option bar, the shopping application is activated,and the shopping information list window 601 is a scrolling option barlist (after the last related content is displayed, the user can skip tothe first related content without going back to the first displaycontent in order) or a sliding video option bar list.

In some examples, when the user selects a commodity option bar, theapparatus receives (at 6130) a user input for selecting the commodityoption bar in the shopping information list window, and the commodityoption bar is spread, and the shopping option bar list window 601 in theGUI specifically display (at 6135) associated commodity details(including dimensions, sizes, colors and specifications).

FIG. 28C describes a flow diagram 6100C of acquiring a GUI of shoppinginformation at a client according to the present disclosure. In someexamples, the apparatus detects (at 6230) that the user selects the“Scan QR code” option bar, a QR code window is displayed (at 6235) onthe GUI. A QR code is magnified to the entire shopping option bar listwindow 601 and presented as a square. The QR code on the smart TV 100 isscanned by a client, and more commodity information is obtained from theclient.

FIG. 28D is an exemplary flow diagram (6100D) of entering a built-inshopping application. In some examples, the apparatus receives (at 6330)a user input for selecting a shopping application Juxianggou in theshopping information list window. When the user selects the skip optionbar 6013, the system shopping application (such as Juxianggou) is in ato-be-activated state, and the skip reminder option bar 1603 isdisplayed (at 6335) at the bottom of the currently-played contentdisplay layer 160 of the GUI, including a skip prompt (such as skipafter 5 seconds) and a back prompt. The system shopping application isactivated and skipped to a TV shopping page. Juxianggou applicationcontent is displayed on the GUI, so as to facilitate shopping on TV, asdescribed with reference to FIG. 19B (at 6360).

In some embodiments, the apparatus detects (at 6345) a user command,which is selecting “Back” in the skip reminder option bar, and then theGUI (at 6350) exits from the screen shot content display layer 170 andcontinues to play the program of the current silo. In some examples, theuser can exit from the video option bar list window 501 to the previousoption bar or exit the screen shot content display layer 170 to browsethe video content currently played in the currently-played contentdisplay layer 160 in full screen.

As described above, in the present embodiment, in order to meet therequirements for a more visual user interface and a seamless userinteraction, when the currently-played content is displayed on thedisplay of the smart TV, in response to an input instruction for screenshot capture, a plurality of option bars are displayed. The plurality ofoption bars are respectively configured to display thumbnail images ofscreen shots and recommended content related to content identified basedon images of the screen shots, and/or configured to respond to a userinterface for input user instruction in association with the screenshots. In this way, when the user is watching the currently-played videocontent, the screen shot instruction is triggered by the remotecontroller, voice, touch, etc., and then current video images arecaptured in real time and identified, so as to identify the contentpresented in the video images (such as commodities, movie stars, TVstation logos and QR codes), and simultaneously recommend informationrelated to the content of the video images.

Embodiment II

FIG. 29 to FIG. 34 illustrate exemplary graphical user interface (GUI)II when a user triggers screen shot capturing. When a video is beingplayed on the display, after an instruction for capturing a screen shotis triggered by clicking the remote controller, touching the screen,making a gesture or inputting a voice and the like, the GUI is displayedon the display, which includes a currently-played content display layer110 and a screen shot content display layer 120. It should be noted thatcontrolling the operation of the smart TV by the remote controller istaken as an example below.

In particular, as shown in FIG. 29 , when the user presses a presetbutton (such as “Jubao button” or a certain multi-function button)corresponding to the screen shot capturing instruction on the remotecontroller, a thumbnail image of a screen shot is floating at the bottomside of the screen shot content display layer 120. The thumbnail imagecomes into the display region with a transitional animation. Forexample, the transitional animation is how the thumbnail image comesinto the display region, where the thumbnail image may come into thedisplay region from top to bottom or from right to left. Further, whenthe thumbnail image comes into the display region through transitionalanimation, where the transitional animation further includes a speed ofthe thumbnail image coming into the display region from bottom to top.

As shown in FIG. 30 , in some embodiments, after the thumbnail image isidentified by image recognition, a QR code image containing informationof the thumbnail image and user prompt information (for example, scan toobtain the screen shot, zoom in by pressing a confirm button and seemore by pressing a down button) are displayed above the thumbnail image.The thumbnail image and the QR code image are simultaneously uploaded toa third-party server, so that the user scans the QR code image todownload the thumbnail image from the third-party server by using amobile terminal (such as a mobile phone and a tablet computer) accordingto the user prompt information. Optionally, after performing imagerecognition on the thumbnail image to identify objects in the image, akeyword of a first object at the leftmost position of thumbnail image isdisplayed below the thumbnail image as default. As shown in FIG. 30 .The first object “Actress b” on the left of the figure is displayedbelow the picture thumbnail image.

Optionally, the image recognition process may be locally performed bythe smart TV, or performed by a cloud, a server and the like, which isnot specifically limited herein.

Here, the thumbnail image includes at least one object which may be oneor more of a person, items, or an icon. When the object is a person, itskeyword may be the role name of the person in the currently-playedvideo, such as the role G in the TV drama HLS, or a real name of theperson, such as an actress b portraying the role G. When the object isan item, its keyword may be a category of the item. For example, whenthe identified object is a costume, its keyword is shirt, or the brandor name of the item, and when the identified object is an automobile,its keyword is a brand or manufacture of the automobile, for exampleBMW. When the object is an icon or logo, its keyword may be a name ofthe icon/logo. For example, when the identified object is a TV stationlogo, the keyword is B TV station. Of course, the present embodimentdoes not limit the keywords of the objects in the thumbnail image.

As shown in FIG. 31A to FIG. 32G, when the user continues to operate theremote controller, the screen shot content display layer 120 displays athumbnail image of the screen shot, recommended content related to thecontent identified based on the image of the screen shot, and/or userinterfaces for inputting control instructions in association with thescreen shot capturing, such as instruction input interfaces “Voicesearch” and “Screen shot share.”

Specifically, when the user clicks the down button on the remotecontroller to move the current focus to the keyword of the objectdisplayed below the thumbnail image, such as the “Actress b” in FIG. 30, the display displays the GUI as shown in FIG. 31A. In this GUI, thescreen shot content display layer 120 is a set including a plurality ofoption bars, including a screen shot display bar 1201 configured todisplay a thumbnail image of a screen shot and a plurality ofrecommended content bars 1202 to 1209 configured to display recommendeditems related to the content identified on the basis of the image of thescreen shot. Optionally, the screen shot display bar 1201 is located onthe top side of the screen shot content display layer (the upper rightedge of the display), and the recommended content display bars 1202 to1209 are located on the bottom side of the screen shot content displaylayer (the lower right edge of the display).

The QR code image above the picture thumbnail image and the user promptinformation in the screen shot display bar 1201 are hidden, as shown inFIG. 31A. It should be noted that when the current focus is moved to thescreen shot display layer 1201, the QR code image and the user promptinformation may be displayed above the thumbnail image, as shown in FIG.31B, so that the user can use the mobile terminal to scan the QR codeimage to acquire the thumbnail image according to the user promptinformation in the GUI as shown in FIG. 31B.

The plurality of recommended content display bars may include a keywordoption bar 1202 for the object in the thumbnail image, and at least onekind of option bars 1203 to 1209 related to the content identified onthe basis of the object. The recommended content display bars here maybe Baike, news, films, star style, shopping and program guide, which arerelated to the content identified based on the object in FIG. 32A.

When the thumbnail image is identified as containing a plurality ofobjects, the focus frame is displayed on the first object at theleftmost of the thumbnail image of the screen shot display bar 1201 asdefault, and the keyword option bar 1202 displays a keyword of the firstobject, and the at least one kind of option bars 1203 to 1209 displaythe recommended content related to the first object. Here, the size, theshape, the color and other display effects of the focus frame are notspecifically limited.

Exemplarily, in FIG. 31A, the thumbnail image is identified ascontaining five figures, and the positions of the five figures in thisimage are presented from left to right, and the keywords of thesefigures, from left to right, are Actress b, Actress c, Actress d, and soon.

In an implementation, when the user clicks the down button on the remotecontroller to move the current focus to the keyword “Yang Zi”, which isname of a Chinese actress, of the object displayed below the picturethumbnail image in FIG. 30 , the GUI as shown in FIG. 31A is displayed.In the screen shot content display layer of the GUI, the screen shotdisplay bar 1201 displays, by default, a rectangular focus frame 1201 aon the face of the role Actress b at the leftmost of the thumbnailimage, and the keyword option bar 1202 also synchronously displays thekeyword Actress b of the person object at the leftmost of the thumbnailimage, and at the same time, the recommended content display bars 1203to 1209 also synchronously display recommended content related to YangZi. For example, the Baike option bar 1203 displays the resume andintroduction of the role Actress b.

Further, in FIG. 31C, in the screen shot display bar 1201, when the userpresses the right button on the remote controller, the focus frame 1201a moves to the right and is displayed on the face of object actress cwho is next to Actress b on the right. At the same time, the keywordoption bar 1202 is updated to display the keyword “Actress c” of thenext person object, and the recommended content display bars 1203 to1209 are also updated to display recommended content related to the nextperson object actress c. For example, the C Baike option bar 1203displays the resume and introduction of the role actress c. The newsoption bar 1204 displays the latest news of the role actress c.

Further, in the screen shot display bar 1201, according to positions ofthe five figures in this image from left to right, when the usercontinues to press the right button on the remote controller, the focusframe 1201 a moves right sequentially and is displayed on the faces ofthe person object actress a, actress d and actress e. At the same time,the keyword option bar 1202 is also updated to display the keyword ofthe object selected by the current focus frame, and the recommendedcontent display bars 1203 to 1209 are also updated to displayrecommended content related to the object selected by the current focusframe. In FIG. 31D, when the user presses the right button on the remotecontroller, the current focus frame 1201 a moves to the face of theperson object actress e at the rightmost of the thumbnail image. Thekeyword option bar 1202 is synchronously updated to display the keyword“Actress e” of this object, and the recommended content display bars1203 to 1209 are also updated to display recommended content related tothe object actress e. For example, the C Baike option bar 1203 displaysthe resume and introduction of the role actress e.

In this way, when the user operates the remote controller to enable thecurrent focus frame to select different objects in the thumbnail imagein the screen shot display bar, the smart TV updates the keyword optionbars in response to a user input indicated by the focus frame to updateand display the keywords of the objects selected by the current focusframe, and at the same time, the recommended content display bars arealso updated to display the plurality of kinds of recommended contentrelated to the objects selected by the current focus frame, so that theuser can conveniently learn about various kinds of information of thedifferent objects in a video screen shot, and the recommendationfunction of the smart TV is enriched.

In another implementation, as shown in FIGS. 31A to 31D, the keywordoption bar 1202 also displays direction move indicators 1202 b and 1202c to prompt the user that the thumbnail image also contains otherobjects in addition to the object corresponding to thecurrently-displayed keyword in the keyword option bar and the positionrelationships between the other objects and the object corresponding tothe currently-displayed keyword.

In FIG. 31A, the keyword option bar 1202 displays the keyword “Actressb” of the object at the leftmost of the thumbnail image, and thedirection move indicator 1202 b for moving right is displayed on theright of the keyword option bar 1202, which represents that there arealso other person objects on the right side of the person object actressb in the thumbnail image. Furthermore, the focus frame 1201 a issynchronously displayed on the face of the object actress b in thescreen shot display bar 1202, and the recommended content display bars1203 to 1209 also synchronously display the recommended content relatedto the object actress b.

Further, when the user operates the remote controller to move the focusand select the direction move indicator 1202 b in FIG. 31A, the displaydisplays the GUI as shown in FIG. 31C. In the screen shot contentdisplay layer of the GUI, the keyword option bar 1202 displays thekeyword “Actress c” of the object located closest to Actress b on theright. At the same time, the direction move indicator 1202 c for movingleft is displayed on the left of the keyword option bar 1202, whichrepresents that there are also other person objects on the left side ofthe person object actress c in the thumbnail image, and the directionmove indicator 1202 b for moving right is displayed on the right of thekeyword option bar 1202, which represents that there are also otherobjects on the right side of the object actress c in the thumbnailimage. At this time, in the screen shot content display layer, the focusframe 1201 a is synchronously displayed on the face of the objectactress c in the screen shot display bar 1201, and the recommendedcontent display bars 1203 to 1209 also synchronously display therecommended content related to the object actress c.

In FIG. 31C, when the user operates the remote controller to move thefocus and select the direction move indicator 1202 c in FIG. 31C, thedisplay displays the GUI as shown in FIG. 31A, and descriptions thereofare omitted herein.

In FIG. 31C, further, when the user operates the remote controller tomove the focus and select the direction move indicator 1202 b in FIG.31C, the keyword option bar 1202 sequentially displays the keywords“Actress b”, “Actress c”, “Actress d”, and so on, according to the orderposition of the five objects in this image from left to right. At thesame time, the screen shot content display bar 1202 is also updated todisplay the focus frame 1201 a on the face of the object matched withthe keyword in the current keyword option bar 1202, and the recommendedcontent display bars 1203 to 1209 are also updated to display therecommended content related to the person object matched with thekeyword of the current keyword option bar 1202.

For example, when the user operates the remote controller and selectsthe direction move indicator 1202 b, the display displays the GUI asshown in FIG. 31D. In the screen shot content display layer of the GUI,the keyword option bar 1202 displays the keyword “Actress e” of theobject at the rightmost of the thumbnail image, and the direction moveindicator 1202 c for moving left is displayed on the left of the keywordoption bar 1202, which represents that there are also other objects onthe left side of the object actress e in the thumbnail image. At thistime, in the screen shot content display layer, the focus frame 1201 ais synchronously displayed on the face of the object actress e in thescreen shot display bar 1201, and the recommended content display bars1203 to 1209 also synchronously display the recommended content relatedto the object actress e.

In this way, when the user operates the remote controller to move thecurrent focus and select the direction move indicator in the keywordoption bar, the smart TV displays different keywords in the keywordoption bar in response to a user input for selecting the current focus.Meanwhile, on the thumbnail image of the screen shot display bar, thefocus frame selection indicator is updated and displayed on the face ofthe person object matched with the keyword in the current keyword optionbar, and the recommended content display bars are also updated todisplay the plurality of kinds of recommended content related to theperson object matched with the keyword in the current keyword optionbar, so that the user can conveniently learn about various kinds ofinformation of the different objects in a video screen shot, and therecommendation function of the smart TV is enriched.

It should be noted that if the thumbnail image is identified ascontaining a plurality of objects, when the focus frame selectionindicator is displayed on the object at the leftmost of the thumbnailimage of the current screen shot display bar, the keyword option baronly displays the direction move indicator for moving right withoutdisplaying the direction move indicator for moving left, so as to tellthe user that there are also other objects on the right side of theobject in the thumbnail image and no other objects on the left side ofthe object.

When the focus frame selection indicator is displayed on the object inthe middle of the thumbnail image of the current screen shot displaybar, the keyword option bar displays both the direction move indicatorfor moving right and the direction move indicator for moving left, so asto tell the user that there are other objects on both the right side andthe left side of the object in the thumbnail image.

Similarly, when the focus frame selection indicator is displayed on theobject at the rightmost of the thumbnail image of the current screenshot display bar, the keyword option bar only displays the directionmove indicator for moving left without displaying the direction moveindicator for moving right so as to tell the user that there are alsoother objects on the left side of the object in the thumbnail image andno other objects on the right side of the object.

It should be noted that in a case where only one object is identified inthe thumbnail image, no focus frame selection indicator is displayed inthe thumbnail image of the screen shot display bar, and the keywordoption bar may not display the direction move indicators whiledisplaying the keyword of the object.

The GUI as shown in FIG. 32A is taken as an example. A briefintroduction is made to different kinds of recommended content in aplurality of recommended content display bars with reference to FIGS.32B to 32G.

In FIG. 32A, when the square focus frame 1201 a is displayed on the faceof the second object from the left of the thumbnail image of the screenshot display bar 1201, the keyword option bar 1202 displays the keyword“Actress c” of the second object. Meanwhile, the recommended contentdisplay bars 1203 to 1209 synchronously display a plurality of kinds ofrecommended content related to the second object. The kinds ofrecommended content here can be Baike, news, movies and televisions,star style, shopping, program guide, QR code identification and thelike.

In some examples, when the square focus frame 1201 a is displayed on theface of the second object actress c from the left of the thumbnail imageof the screen shot display bar 1201, in the plurality of recommendedcontent display bars, the Baike option bar 1203 is in a unfolded stateas default and displays brief Baike information, such as the basicintroduction, the personality and the current living condition, of thesecond person object actress c, and other kinds of option bars 1204 to1209 are folded as default, such as the news option bar 1204 and thefilms and televisions option bar 1205.

Or, when the user operates the remote controller to move the currentfocus to the keyword option bar 1202 that displays the keyword “Actressc” of the object, in the plurality of recommended content display bars,the Baike option bar 1203 is unfolded and displays brief Baikeinformation of the second object actress c, and other kinds of optionbars 1204 to 1209 are still folded, such as the news option bar 1204 andthe films and televisions option bar 1205.

Next, in FIG. 32B, when the user operates the remote controller to movethe current focus to the news option bar 1204, in the plurality ofrecommended content display bars, the news option bar 1204 is unfoldedand displays news & gossip information related to the second objectactress c, such as a brief description of the search content, includinga plurality of latest news related to the object actress c, and otherkinds of option bars 1203 and 1205 to 1209 are still folded, such as theBaike option bar 1203 and the films and televisions option bar 1205.

Next, in FIG. 32C, when the user operates the remote controller to movethe current focus to the films and televisions option bar 1205, in theplurality of recommended content display bars, the films and televisionsoption bar 1205 is unfolded and displays other films and televisionsportrayed by the second object actress c, such as videos related to thesearch content and recommended by “A video website”, and other kinds ofoption bars 1203 to 1204 and 1206 to 1209 are still in folded state,such as the Baike option bar 1203 and the films and news option bar1204.

Next, in FIG. 32D, when the user operates the remote controller to movethe current focus to the star style option bar 1206, in the plurality ofrecommended content display bars, the star style option bar 1206 isunfolded and displays same or similar costumes and jewelry as those onthe second object actress c in the thumbnail image, such as a shirt,pants and a jacket worn by the role I portrayed by the actress c in thecurrently-played video, and other kinds of option bars 1203 to 1205 and1207 to 1209 are still in folded state, such as the Baike option bar1203 and the films and news option bar 1204.

Next, in FIG. 32E, when the user operates the remote controller to movethe current focus to the shopping option bar 1207, in the plurality ofrecommended content display bars, the shopping option bar 1207 isunfolded and displays same or similar costumes and jewelry as those onthe second object actress c in the thumbnail image. For example, theunfolded option bar displays the commodity name on the top side,displays the commodity picture of the shirt worn by the role I portrayedby the actress c in the currently-played video on the left of the bottomside, and displays a price of the shirt on the right of the bottom side,and other kinds of option bars 1203 to 1206 and 1208 to 1209 are stillin folded state, such as the Baike option bar 1203 and the films andnews option bar 1204.

Next, in FIG. 32F, when a user operates the remote controller to movethe current focus to the program guide option bar 1208, in the pluralityof recommended content display bars, the program guide option bar 1208is unfolded and displays a channel, obtained by identifying the TVstation logo in the thumbnail image, of the currently-played video. Forexample, if the channel is the Dragon TV, a program guide introductionand program details of the Dragon TV are displayed, including, but notlimited to, program names and play time, and other kinds of option bars1203 to 1207 and 1209 are in folded state, such as the Baike option bar1203 and the films and news option bar 1204.

Next, in FIG. 32G, when a user operates the remote controller to movethe current focus to the QR code identification option bar 1209, in theplurality of recommended content display bars, the QR codeidentification option bar 1209 is unfolded and displays a QR code imagecontaining thumbnail image information of the screen shot and userprompt information. For example, a QR code in the image is clicked to beenlarged. Other kinds of option bars 1203 to 1208 are in folded state,such as the Baike option bar 1203 and the films and news option bar1204.

Taking FIG. 32A as an example, when the Baike option bar 1203 is inunfolded state, it directly displays the brief description of the searchcontent, including a webpage recommended content from C Baike.Optionally, when the Baike option bar 1203 is in unfolded state, it mayalso include two bars. The first bar displays “Baike” of the recommendedcontent on the left, and displays the website icon and the website nameof the search source “C” on the right side, wherein the LOGO “C”represents the source of the recommended content. The second bardisplays the brief description of the search content.

FIG. 32B is taken as an example. When the news option bar 1204 is inunfolded state, which directly displays the brief description of thesearch content, including a webpage recommended content from TencentNews. Optionally, when the Baike option bar 1204 is in unfolded state,it may also include two bars. The first bar displays “Baike” of therecommended content on the left, and displays a website icon and awebsite name of the search source “C” on the right side, wherein theLOGO “C” represents the source of the recommended content. The secondbar displays a brief of the search content.

When other kinds of option bars are in folded state, they may displaythe kinds of the recommended content in the option bars and/or thesources of the recommended content. Optionally, the source of therecommended content may be the website icon and/or the website name. Forexample, the news option bar 1204 in FIG. 32A is in folded state, itdisplays the kind “news” of the recommended content and the source “Lnews” of the recommended content. The source of the recommended contentmay be displayed as “L news” 1204 a and an icon 1204 b of the L News.For another example, the films and televisions option bar 1205 is infolded state, it displays the kind “films and televisions” of therecommended content and the source “M video website” of the recommendedcontent. The source of the recommended content may be displayed as “Mvideo website” 1205 a and an icon 1205 b of the M video website. Foranother example, the shopping option bar 1207 is in folded state, itdisplays the kind “shopping” of the recommended content and the source“N shopping website” of the recommended content. The source of therecommended content may be displayed as “N shopping website” 1207 aonly.

That is, the recommended content display bar may be at least dividedinto an upper bar and a lower bar: a navigation bar and a content bar.The navigation bar displays the kind of the recommended content and/orthe source of the recommended content, and the content bar displays abrief of the search content of a specific kind. When the recommendedcontent display bar is in unfolded state, the navigation bar may be in ahidden or displayed state, which may be set according to the need of theuser. When the recommended content display bar is in folded state, thenavigation bar may be displayed only to prompt the user to learn aboutdifferent kinds of recommended content related to the object.

It should be noted that in FIG. 32A, the source of the recommendedcontent is actually an application icon and/or an application name, andthe user can select to activate the corresponding application, such asthe sources of the recommended content: “C website”, “L news website”,“M video website”, “F shopping website”, “N shopping website”, “N filmsand televisions website” and “QR code”.

It should be further noted that the user can select to set the sourcesof the recommended content in the plurality of recommended contentdisplay bars. For example, the news option bar 1204 may provide news &gossip content coming from different search sources such as L news, Cnews, E news and D news and related to the content of the thumbnailimage. The films and televisions option bar 1205 may provide film andtelevision work content coming from different search sources such as Mfilm and television website, O film and television website, P film andtelevision website and N film and television website and related to thecontent of the picture thumbnail image. The star style option bar 1206may provide star-style costume commodity content coming from differentsearch sources such as F shopping website, Q shopping website and Rshopping website and related to the content of the thumbnail image. Theuser can set the search sources of different kinds of recommendedcontent to meet demands.

As previously described, the GUI may be presented as a display object,the screen shot content display layer of which has a plurality of optionbars. When the user selects the option bars via the remote controller,various kinds of search content may be viewed. For example, whenselected, each option bar makes a list of a description, a summary and arelated text or a image descriptor. The content profile is displayed inthe content display layer, and the user can move the current focus frameonto an icon or a user interface element through the remote controller.When moving the focus, a user can select the content corresponding tothe option bar through the remote controller again, and the content ispresented as a form that a plurality of information windows aresuperimposed, so that the user can see more detailed content associatedtherewith, as shown in FIGS. 33A to 33E and FIGS. 34A to 34C.

FIG. 33A illustrates a GUI example which is operatable by a user inaccordance with a user prompt information in FIG. 30 or presents adisplay interface after a user selects the screen shot display bar 1201.In the illustrated embodiment, when the user clicks the confirm buttonof the remote controller according to the user prompt information inFIG. 30 , or when the user moves the focus onto the thumbnail image ofthe screen shot display bar (as shown in FIG. 31B) and clicks theconfirm button of the remote controller, a QR code image informationwindow 201 containing a QR code image is displayed on the screen shotcontent display layer. The QR code image information window 201 floatsabove the screen shot content display layer, and an interface,displaying the various option bars, of the screen shot content displaylayer is hidden. The user scans the QR code image through a devicehaving a scanning function, such as a mobile phone, and the image of ascreen shot may be locally saved in the device or shared to others.

FIG. 33B illustrates a GUI example for selecting the Baike option bar1203 by a user. In the illustrated embodiment, when the user moves thefocus to the Baike option bar and clicks the confirm button of theremote controller, a C Baike information window 202 is displayed on thescreen shot content display layer. The C Baike information window 202floats above the screen shot content display layer, and an interface,displaying the various option bars, of the screen shot content displaylayer is hidden. The user clicks the up and down buttons of the remotecontroller to browse the detailed Baike information of the object in ascrolling manner.

FIG. 33C illustrates a GUI example for selecting the news option bar1204 by a user. In the illustrated embodiment, when the user moves thefocus to the news option bar and clicks the confirm button of the remotecontroller, an L news information window 203 is displayed on the screenshot content display layer. The L news information window 203 floatsabove the screen shot content display layer, and an interface,displaying the various option bars, of the screen shot content displaylayer is hidden. The user clicks the up and down buttons of the remotecontroller to browse and select different news event list content.

Further, when the user wishes to learn about more detailed content of acertain piece of news, the user can move the focus to the news eventsub-option bar, and then clicks the confirm button of the remotecontroller to activate and confirm one news detail information window2031. The news detail information window 2031 floats above the L newsinformation window 203, and the interface, displaying the various optionbars, of the screen shot content display layer is still hidden. Forexample, the user moves the focus onto the news event in FIG. 33C, andpresses the confirm button of the remote controller to display the GUIexample as shown in FIG. 34 . The news details described by the selectednews event are all unfolded, including the titles, post time, texts andpictures of all the news records, while only the titles and part of thepictures are displayed for unselected news events. When the user pressesthe back button of the remote controller on the news detail informationwindow, the page goes back to the L news information window. When theuser continues to press the back button of the remote controller on theL news information window, the page goes back to the interfacedisplaying the various option bars.

FIG. 33D illustrates a GUI example for selecting the shopping option bar1207 by a user. In the illustrated embodiment, when the user moves thefocus to the shopping option bar and presses the confirm button of theremote controller, a shopping information window 204 including aplurality of commodity introduction sub-option bars are displayed on thescreen shot content display layer. The shopping information window 204floats above the screen shot content display layer, and an interface,displaying the various option bars, of the screen shot content displaylayer is hidden. The user presses the up and down buttons of the remotecontroller to browse and select different commodity list content.

Further, when a user wishes to learn about more details of a certaincommodity, the user can move the focus to the commodity introductionsub-option bars, and then presses the confirm button of the remotecontroller to select to activate and confirm a commodity detailinformation window 2041 in FIG. 34B. The commodity detail informationwindow 2041 floats above the shopping information window 204, and theinterface, displaying the various option bars, of the screen shotcontent display layer is still hidden. For example, the user moves thefocus onto the first commodity introduction sub-option bar in FIG. 33D,and presses the confirm button of the remote controller to display theGUI example as shown in FIG. 34B. The commodity details described in thefirst commodity introduction sub-option bar are all unfolded, includingdimension, size, color, specification and the like. When the userpresses the back button of the remote controller on the commodity detailinformation window, the page goes back to the shopping informationwindow. When the user continues to press the back button of the remotecontroller on the shopping information window, the page goes back to theinterface displaying the various option bars.

FIG. 33E illustrates a GUI example when a user selects the program guideoption bar 1208. In the illustrated embodiment, when the user moves thefocus to the news option bar and presses the confirm button of theremote controller, a program guide information window 205 is displayedon the screen shot content display layer. The program guide informationwindow 205 floats above the screen shot content display layer, and aninterface, displaying the various option bars, of the screen shotcontent display layer is hidden. For example, by recognizing the TVstation logo in the thumbnail image, it can be seen that the channel ofthe currently-played content is the B TV station, and a TV program listto be played in the B TV station in the next time period is displayed.The user presses the up and down buttons of the remote controller tobrowse and select different TV program list content.

Further, when the user wishes to learn about more details of a specificTV program, the user can move the focus to the TV program namesub-option bar in the TV program list, and then presses the confirmbutton of the remote controller to activate and confirm a program detailinformation window 2051 in FIG. 34C. The program detail informationwindow 2051 floats above the program guide information window 205, andthe interface, displaying the various option bars, of the screen shotcontent display layer is still hidden. For example, the user moves thefocus onto the TV program name sub-option bar for “TV drama 10” in FIG.33E, and presses the confirm button of the remote controller to displaythe GUI example as shown in FIG. 34C. Updated episodes of the TV programare displayed, and the user can select an episode and play it. When theuser presses the back button of the remote controller on the programdetail information window, the page goes back to the program guideinformation window. When the user continues to press the back button ofthe remote controller on the program guide information window, the pagegoes back to the interface displaying the various option bars.

It should be noted that the above information windows (such as the newsinformation window and the news detail information window) are displayedwith a transitional animation, and the transitional animation mayinclude how the information windows come into the display region. Forexample, the information windows may come into the display region frombottom to top or from right to left. Further, when the informationwindows come into as a transitional animation, it may also include, forexample, a speed of the information windows coming into display regionfrom bottom to top.

It should be noted that the above series of object selecting operationsperformed by a remote controller may be performed by touch operations onthe screen, gestures or voice input and the like, which is not limitedin the embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 35 is a flow diagram illustrating a method 350 for displaying a GUIof a screen shot of a currently-played content on a TV display accordingto some embodiments. The method 350 is performed by the smart TV, andsome operations in the method 350 may be combined and/or the orders ofsome operations may be changed.

In Step 3501, when a TV screen is currently playing a content, uponreceiving an instruction for capturing a screen shot of the TV, athumbnail image of a screen shot of the TV display is displayed as aresponse.

In Step 3502, in response to a selection of an object in the thumbnailimage or a keyword matched with the object, recommended content relatedto the selected object is displayed on the TV screen.

Specifically, after a server recognizes the image of the screen shot,the thumbnail image contains at least one object, and the keyword of theobject may be determined. Referring to FIG. 31A, the image is recognizedas containing five objects, and the positions of the five person objectsin this image are sorted from left to right, and the keywords of theseobjects, from left to right, are Actress b, Actress c, Actress a,Actress d and Actress e, respectively.

It should be noted that the smart TV responds a user input for selectingdifferent objects based on positions of different objects in thethumbnail image and a preset input order. For example, the coordinatesof different objects in the thumbnail image may be regarded as beingsorted from left to right or from right to left, as shown in FIG. 31A,so a user controls the focus to move among different objects by pressingthe left or right button on the remote controller to select differentobjects. For another example, the coordinates of different objects inthe thumbnail image may be also regarded as being sorted from top tobottom or from bottom to top, so a user could controls a focus to moveamong different objects by pressing the up or down button on the remotecontrol to select different objects.

It should be further noted that the coordinates of different objects inthe thumbnail image are obtained according to the position coordinatesof the different objects in an image displayed in the currently-playedcontent display layer and a ratio of the image displayed in thecurrently-played current display layer to the thumbnail image.

For example, in FIG. 31A, the ratio of the image displayed in thecurrently-played content display layer to the thumbnail image is 8:1,and both of them take the lower left corners as an origin of coordinates(0, 0). If the position coordinate of the nose tip of the object actressb on the leftmost side of the image displayed in the currently-playedcontent display layer is (20, 80), the position coordinate of the nosetip of the person object actress b in the thumbnail image is (20/8,80/8), i.e. (2.5, 10). Similarly, the position coordinates of the nosetip of the object actress c, the nose tip of the actress a, the nose tipof the actress d, and the nose tip of the actress e are respectivelyobtained by the above method. Then, a user input for selecting differentperson objects is received on basis of the position coordinates of thenose tips of different person objects and the preset left-to-right orup-to-down order. Of course, the position coordinate of the object mayalso use the position coordinate of the eyebrow, the eye, the mouth andthe like of the object, and is not limited to the position coordinate ofthe nose tip of the person object.

It should be further noted that a user can select the keywords ofdifferent objects based on the direction move indicator in the keywordoption bar shown in FIGS. 31A to 31D, and recommended content related tothe object matched with the keyword is displayed on the screen as aresponse.

In some embodiments, the above recommended content related to theselected object may be different kinds of content recommendations, suchas Baike, news, and films and televisions, referring to FIGS. 32A to 32Gfor details.

FIG. 36 is a flow diagram illustrating a method 360 for displaying a GUIof a screen shot of a currently-played content on a TV display accordingto some embodiments.

In Step 3601, when a TV screen is currently displaying a content, uponreceiving in instruction for capturing a screen shot of the TV screen, athumbnail image of a screen shot of a currently-played content isdisplayed on the screen as a response.

In Step 3602, in response to a selection of an object in the thumbnailimage or a keyword matched with the object, a focus frame selectionindicator and recommended content related to the selected object aredisplayed on the screen.

In a case where at least one object has been recognized in the thumbnailimage, when a user selects a specific object or a keyword matched with aspecific object, a focus frame selection indicator for indicating thatthe object has been selected is displayed in the thumbnail image whiledifferent kinds of recommended content related to the object arepresented on the screen, so as to prompt a user that the currently viewcontent is the recommended content related to the object selected by thefocus frame selection indicator, and the user experience is enhanced.

Here, an exemplary method for selecting different kinds of option bars(such as the Baike option bar, the news option bar and the films andtelevisions option bar) by a user to browse and select the recommendedcontent refers to the method as shown in FIGS. 24 to 28 in Embodiment I,and descriptions thereof are omitted here.

As described above, in the present embodiments, in order to meet therequirements for a more visual user interface and a seamless userinteraction, when a smart TV is current playing a content, in responseto an instruction for capturing a screen shot, a plurality of option barsets are displayed. The plurality of option bars include option bars fordisplaying a thumbnail image of the screen shot and recommended contentrelated to the content identified on the basis of the image of thescreen shot, and/or a user interface for inputting control instructionsin association with the screen shot. In response to a selection of anobject in the thumbnail image or a selection of a keyword matched withan object, at least one of the plurality of option bars displays therecommended content related to the object.

In this way, when the user is watching the video content currentlyplaying on TV, current video images are captured in real time andrecognized, so as to recognize the content presented in the video images(such as commodities, movie stars, TV station logos and QR codes), andimmediately recommend information related to the content of the videoimages. For example, when a user is watching the World Cup, currentvideo images may be captured, and information of each player isrecognized, so that when a specific player is selected, content such asinformation of the player and shopping of articles of star style arepopped.

Embodiment III

FIGS. 37 to 39 illustrate an exemplary graphical user interfaces (GUI)III when a user triggers screen shot capturing. When a video is beingplayed on the display, after an instruction for capturing a screen shotis triggered by pressing a remote controller, touching on the screen,making a gesture or inputting a voice and the like, the GUI is displayedon the screen, and includes a currently-played content display layer130, a screen shot content display layer 140 and a function selectionregion 150. The screen shot content display layer and the functionselection region are arranged from left to right. The screen shotcontent display layer is configured to display thumbnail images ofscreen shots and recommended content related to content identified fromthe thumbnail images. The function selection region includes a pluralityof function tabs that at least include an object selection tab forproviding an access to objects in the thumbnail images, at least onecontent recommendation tab for accessing the above recommended content,and/or a user input tab for control instructions in association with thescreen shot capturing function.

It should be noted that a remote control is used as an exemplary deviceto control operations of the smart TV below.

Specifically, when the user presses a preset button (such as “Jubaobutton” or a certain multi-function button) on the remote controllercorresponding to the screen shot capturing instruction, the GUI as shownin FIG. 37 is displayed on the screen. The screen shot content displaylayer 130 displays the thumbnail images of the screen shots. Thefunction selection region 150 includes a plurality of function tabs,such as a screen shot share tab 1501, a figure selection tab 1502, aBaike tab 1503, a news tab 1504, a related video tab 1505 and a Taobaotab 1506 in FIGS. 39A-39E.

It should be further noted that before the thumbnail image of the screenshot is recognized, that is, when the GUI as shown in FIG. 37 isdisplayed, a current focus is displayed on the screen shot share tab ofthe function selection region by default, and the other tabs, such asthe figure selection tab and the Baike tab, in the function selectionregion are in a gray state (means inactivated). At this time, a user isunable to move the focus up and down in the function selection regionthrough the remote controller.

As shown in FIG. 38 , in some embodiments, after the thumbnail image isrecognized, a QR code image containing information of the thumbnailimage and user prompt information (words such as: scan to obtain thescreen shot, zoom in by pressing a confirm button and see more bypressing a down button) are displayed on the thumbnail image. Thethumbnail image and the QR code image are simultaneously uploaded to athird-party server, so that a user can scan the QR code image todownload the thumbnail image from the third-party server by using amobile terminal (such as a mobile phone and a tablet computer) accordingto the user prompt information.

Optionally, after the thumbnail image is going through image recognitionto determine the content in the image, the recommended content relatedto the content identified from the thumbnail image are being popped up.At this time, presentations on the function selection region is updated.The plurality of function tabs are all in active state, and a user canmove the focus up and down in the function selection region through theremote controller to browse and select different function tabs.

In the illustrated embodiment, as shown in FIG. 39A, when the user movesa focus to the screen shot share tab 1501 and presses the confirm buttonof the remote controller, a QR code image information window 1401 isdisplayed on the screen shot content display layer. A QR code imagedisplayed in the QR code image information window 1401 contains theinformation of the thumbnail image of the screen shot. The user scansthe QR code image through a device having a scanning function, such as amobile phone, and the image of a screen shot may be locally stored inthe device or shared with others.

As shown in FIG. 39B, when a user moves a focus to the figure selectiontab 1502 and presses the confirm button of the remote controller, anobject information window 1402 is displayed on the screen shot contentdisplay layer. Here, in the GUI shown in FIG. 37 , after imagerecognition is performed, the thumbnail image of the screen shot isrecognized as containing five objects. The object information window maydisplay the objects in the thumbnail image and keywords of the objects.When a user selects a keyword, the object information window displays anobject matched with the keyword. For example, the keywords of the fiveperson objects are Role A, Actress c, Actress b, Actress d, and Actresse. When a user moves a focus left to the keywords and selects thekeyword Role A, only an image of the object corresponding to the keywordRole A is displayed in the object information window. When the usercontinues to move the focus downward and selects the keyword Actress c,only an image of the object corresponding to the keyword Actress c isdisplayed in the object information window.

Further, under a circumstance that a user selects a keyword and theobject matched with the keyword is displayed in the object informationwindow, at least one content recommendation tab for accessingrecommended content related to content identified from the thumbnailimage is provided in the function selection region 150. The recommendedcontent related to the object currently displayed in the objectinformation window are synchronously updated. For example, in FIG. 39B,when the screen shot content display layer displays the keyword Role Aand the image of the object corresponding to the Role A, the functiontabs such as the Baike tab, the news tab and the related video tab inthe function selection region are synchronously updated with informationrelated to the Role A. When the screen shot content display layerdisplays the keyword Actress c and the image of the object correspondingto the Actress c, the function tabs such as the Baike tab, the news taband the related video tab in the function selection region aresynchronously updated with information related to the Actress c.

Next, under a circumstance that the screen shot content display layerdisplays the keyword Role A and the image of the object corresponding tothe Role A in FIG. 39B, when a user moves a focus right from the objectinformation window 1402 to the figure selection tab 1502, and continuesto move the focus downward to the Baike tab 1503, the screen shotcontent display layer displays a Baike information window 1403 whichdisplays general Baike information of the object Role A, as shown inFIG. 39 . The user moves the focus to the Baike information window bypressing the left button on the remote control, and the Baikeinformation window may be pulled up to present more detailed content.

Next, when a user moves a focus to the news tab 1504, the screen shotcontent display layer displays a news information window 1404 whichdisplays news & gossip information of the object Role A, as shown inFIG. 39D. The user moves the focus to the news information window bypressing the left button to browse and select different news events.

Further, when a user wishes to learn about more details about somespecific news, the user can move the focus to the specific news event,and then presses the confirm button of the remote controller to activateand confirm a news detail information window 1404 a that floats abovethe news information window. For example, the user moves the focus ontothe first news event in FIG. 39D, and presses the confirm button of theremote controller to cause the TV to display the GUI example as shown inFIG. 39B. News details described about the selected first news event areall unfolded.

The user can continue to operate the remote controller to selectdifferent function tabs in the function selection region to accessdifferent kinds of recommended content related to the object Role A.

It should be noted that, as shown in FIG. 39E, when the screen shotcontent display layer displays detailed content of different functiontabs, the function selection region may be in a partially hidden andpartially displayed state to avoid influencing user's watching of thecurrently-played content due to occupying a part of the display area. Ofcourse, the function selection region may also be in a completely hiddenor completely displayed state, which is not specifically limited in thepresent disclosure.

It should be noted that when the thumbnail image of the screen shotcontains a plurality of objects, the object selection tab of thefunction selection region may include multiple sub-menu tabs fordisplaying keywords matched with the plurality of objects, so that whena specific keyword in the sub-menu tab is selected, the screen shotcontent display layer displays the object matched with the keyword, andthe at least one content recommendation tab of the function selectionregion provides different kinds of recommended content related to theobject.

For example, in the GUI shown in FIG. 40 , when the thumbnail image ofthe screen shot contains five objects, the figure selection tab 1502 isprovided with a sub-menu tab 1502 a in which keywords of the five personobjects are displayed. When the user selects the keyword Role A, thescreen shot content display layer only displays the image of the Role A,and at this time, the Baike tab, the news tab and the related video tabin the function selection region are synchronously updated to displayinformation corresponding to the object Role A. When the user selectsthe keyword Actress c, the screen shot content display layer onlydisplays the image of Actress c, and at this time, the Baike tab, thenews tab and the related video tab in the function selection region aresynchronously updated to display information corresponding to the personobject Actress c.

It should be further noted that FIGS. 41 to 43 illustrate an exemplarygraphical user interface (GUI) I when a user triggers screen shotcapturing. A difference from the GUI shown in FIGS. 37 to 40 is that inthis example, the function selection region 150 and the screen shotcontent display layer 140 are arranged from top to bottom. Other contentof this example are similar to those of the example shown in FIGS. 37 to40 , and relevant descriptions thereof are omitted herein.

FIG. 44 is a flow diagram illustrating a method 440 for displaying a GUIof a screen shot of a currently-played content on a TV screen accordingto some embodiments. The method 440 is performed by the smart TV, andsome operations in the method 440 may be combined and/or the orders ofsome operations may be changed as needs.

In Step 4401, when a TV display is currently playing a content, uponreceiving an instruction for capturing a screen shot input from a user,the display displays a GUI including a currently-played content displaylayer, a screen shot content display layer and a function selectionregion as a response.

The screen shot content display layer is to display a thumbnail image ofa screen shot and recommended content related to content identified fromthe thumbnail image. The function selection region includes an objectselection tab for providing an access to an object in the thumbnailimage, at least one content recommendation tab for accessing the aboverecommended content, and/or a user input tab for control instructions inassociation with the screen shot capturing function.

Further, Step 4402 may be included, in which in response to a selectionof the object selection tab in the function selection region, the screenshot content display layer displays the object in the thumbnail imageand a keyword matched with the object.

In a case where at least one object has been recognized in the thumbnailimage, when a user selects a specific keyword, in response to aselection of the specific keyword, an object matched with the keyword isdisplayed in the screen shot content display layer, and the at least onecontent recommendation tab in the function selection region provides anaccess to the recommended content related to the object. When a userselects a specific content recommendation tab, in response to aselection of the specific content recommendation tab, detailed contentrelated to the content recommendation tab are displayed in the screenshot content display layer.

Here, an exemplary method for selecting a user input tab (such as thescreen shot share tab) for control instructions in association with thescreen shot capturing function refers to the method as shown in FIG. 23in Embodiment I, and descriptions thereof are omitted here. Here, anexemplary method for selecting different kinds of option bars (such asthe Baike option bar, the news option bar and the related video optionbar) by a user to browse and select different kinds of recommendedcontent refers to the method as shown in FIGS. 24 to 28 in Embodiment I,and descriptions thereof are omitted here.

FIG. 45 is a flow diagram illustrating a method 450 for displaying a GUIof a screen shot of a currently-played content on a TV display accordingto some embodiments.

In Step 4501, when a TV display is currently playing a content, uponreceiving an instruction for capturing a screen shot input from a user,the display displays a GUI including a currently-played content displaylayer, a screen shot content display layer and a function selectionregion as a response.

The screen shot content display layer is to display a thumbnail image ofa screen shot and recommended content related to the content identifiedfrom the thumbnail image. The function selection region includes anobject selection tab for providing an access to an object in thethumbnail image, at least one content recommendation tab for accessingthe above recommended content, and/or a screen shot share tab forsharing the thumbnail image.

In Step 4502, in response to a selection of an object selection tab inthe function selection region, a sub-menu tab of the object selectiontab is displayed in the function selection region, and shows a keywordof at least one object in the thumbnail image.

In a case where at least one object has been recognized in the thumbnailimage, when the user selects an object selection tab, in response to aselection of the object selection tab, a sub-menu tab of the objectselection tab is displayed in the function selection region, and showskeywords of different objects in the thumbnail image. When the userselects a certain keyword, in response to a selection of the keyword, amatched object with the keyword is displayed in the screen shot contentdisplay layer, and at this time, the at least one content recommendationtab in the function selection region provides an access to therecommended content related to the object. When a user selects a certaincontent recommendation tab, in response to a selection of the contentrecommendation tab, detailed content related to the contentrecommendation tab are displayed in the screen shot content displaylayer.

Here, an exemplary method for selecting the screen shot share tab by auser may refer to the method as shown in FIG. 23 in Embodiment I, anddescriptions thereof are omitted here. Here, an exemplary method forselecting different kinds of option bars (such as the Baike option bar,the news option bar and the related video option bar) by a user tobrowse and select different kinds of recommended content may refer tothe method as shown in FIGS. 24 to 28 in Embodiment I, and descriptionsthereof are omitted here.

As described above, in the present embodiments, in order to meet therequirements for a more visual user interface and a seamless userinteraction, when a display of smart TV is currently playing a content,in response to an input instruction for capturing a screen shot, a GUIincluding a currently-played content display layer, a screen shotcontent display layer and a function selection region is displayed. Thescreen shot content display layer is to display a thumbnail image of ascreen shot and recommended content related to the content identifiedfrom the thumbnail image. The function selection region includes anobject selection tab for providing an access to an object in thethumbnail image, at least one content recommendation tab for accessingthe above recommended content, and/or a screen shot share tab forsharing the thumbnail image. In this way, when a user is watching videocontent, current video images are captured in real time and beingrecognized, so as to identify the content presented in the video images(such as commodities, movie stars, TV station logos and QR codes), andimmediately recommend information related to the content of the videoimages.

The exemplary systems and methods of the present disclosure have beendescribed with reference to an entertainment system. However, in orderto avoid any unnecessary ambiguity with respect to the presentdisclosure, the foregoing description omits some known structures anddevices. Such omissions shall not to be construed as limiting the scopeof the claims. Specific details are particularly provided to facilitateunderstanding of the present disclosure. However, it should beunderstood that the present disclosure may be implemented in a varietyof ways beyond the specific details described in the present disclosure.

Moreover, the exemplary aspects, examples, and/or configurationsillustrated in the present disclosure show that various components ofthe system are arranged together, but some system components can belocated at a remote end of a distributed network (such as an LAN and/orthe Internet), or located in a dedicated system. Therefore, it should beunderstood that the components of the system may be combined into one ormore devices, such as a set top box or a television, or other devicesarranged on a particular node side by side of a distributed network(such as an analog and/or digital telecommunications network, a packetswitched network, or a circuit switched network). In accordance with theabove description and for the reason of computational efficiency, thecomponents of the system may be located anywhere within the distributedcomponent network without affecting the operation of the system. Forexample, different components may be located in switchboards (such as aPBX, a media server and a gateway), one or more communication devices,one or more user sites, or some combinations of the above. Similarly,one or more functional portions of the system may be distributed betweena telecommunication device and an associated computing device.

Moreover, it should be understood that the various connections betweenthese elements may be wired or wireless, or any combinations thereof, orany other known or later developed elements that are capable ofproviding data and/or communicating data with the connected elements.These wired or wireless connections may also be secure connections thatmay transmit encrypted information. A transmission medium for connectionmay be, for example, any suitable electronic signal carrier, including acoaxial cable, a copper wire and an optical fiber, and may be anacoustic wave or a light wave such as an acoustic wave or a light wavegenerated during radio wave and infrared data transmission.

In addition, although some flow diagrams have been discussed andillustrated in a particular order, it should be understood that suchorder may be changed, adding some steps and omitting some steps withoutsubstantially affecting the disclosed examples, configurations andaspects of operations.

A series of changes and modifications to the present disclosure may beobtained. It is possible to provide only certain features of the presentdisclosure without providing other features.

Furthermore, although the description above includes one or moreaspects, examples and/or configurations, as well as certain variationsand modifications, other variations, combinations and modifications arestill within the scope of the present disclosure as if they are withinthe skill and knowledge scope of persons skilled in the art after theskilled understand the present disclosure. Applicants intend to cover anallowable scope including substitutive aspects, examples and/orconfigurations. Those aspects, examples and/or configurations in theclaims include substitutive, interchangeable and/or equivalentstructures, functions, scopes or steps, whether or not thesesubstitutive, interchangeable and/or equivalent structures, functions,scopes or steps have been disclosed in the present disclosure andapplicant has no intention to dedicate any patentable subject matter.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for a display apparatus, comprising:displaying an instructive icon over a playing-video on the displayapparatus, the instructive icon being used for instructing a user toacquire information corresponding to a video content currentlydisplayed; in response to an input instruction from the user,identifying at least one target object in the video content and one ormore keywords associated with the at least one target object; andproviding a display layer over the playing-video, the display layerpresenting a thumbnail image containing the at least one target objectand the one or more keywords associated with the at least one targetobject.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: the inputinstruction from the user includes a voice input instruction; and the atleast one target object in the video content and the one or morekeywords associated with the at least one target object are identifiedand displayed to the user, after receiving the voice input instructionfrom the user.
 3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:in response to a keyword selected from the one or more keywords,displaying one or more content recommendation tabs corresponding to theselected keyword associated with the at least one target object.
 4. Themethod according to claim 3, further comprising: in response to aselection for at least one content recommendation tab from the one ormore content recommendation tabs, displaying recommended content relatedto the at least one target object corresponding to the selected keyword.5. The method according to claim 3, wherein: the one or morerecommendation tabs comprise a webpage text, an image, a TV programrelated video, or shopping information.
 6. The method according to claim4, further comprising: in response to the displaying of the recommendedcontent, indicating an action triggered by information based on thedisplayed recommended content related to the at least one target object.7. The method according to claim 6, wherein: the information includesshopping information from a third-party site displayed in anotherdisplay layer; and the action indicated includes a purchase action. 8.The method according to claim 6, wherein: the information includesprogram information displayed in another display layer; and the actionindicated includes a program scheduling action.
 9. The method accordingto claim 1, further comprising: displaying a share tab for sharing animage captured from the playing-video.
 10. The method according to claim1, further comprising: obtaining a plurality of images at different timepoints; and storing the plurality of images in a preset image storageregion.
 11. A display apparatus, comprising: a display configured todisplay content from a broadcast system or network and/or a userinterface; a memory storing computer instructions and data associatedwith the display; and one or more processors in communication with thememory and the display, wherein the one or more processors areconfigured to execute the computer instructions to cause the displayapparatus to perform: displaying an instructive icon over aplaying-video on the display, the instructive icon being used forinstructing a user to acquire information corresponding to a videocontent currently displayed; in response to an input instruction fromthe user, identifying at least one target object in the video contentand one or more keywords associated with the at least one target object;and providing a display layer over the playing-video, the display layerpresenting a thumbnail image containing the at least one target objectand the one or more keywords associated with the at least one targetobject.
 12. The display apparatus according to claim 11, wherein: theinput instruction from the user includes a voice input instruction; andthe at least one target object in the video content and the one or morekeywords associated with the at least one target object are identifiedand displayed to the user, after receiving the voice input instructionfrom the user.
 13. The display apparatus according to claim 11, whereinthe one or more processors are further configured to execute thecomputer instructions to cause the display apparatus to perform: inresponse to a keyword selected from the one or more keywords, displayingone or more content recommendation tabs corresponding to the selectedkeyword associated with the at least one target object.
 14. The displayapparatus according to claim 13, wherein the one or more processors arefurther configured to execute the computer instructions to cause thedisplay apparatus to perform: in response to a selection for at leastone content recommendation tab from the one or more contentrecommendation tabs, displaying recommended content related to the atleast one target object corresponding to the selected keyword.
 15. Thedisplay apparatus according to claim 13, wherein: the one or morerecommendation tabs comprise a webpage text, an image, a TV programrelated video, or shopping information.
 16. The display apparatusaccording to claim 14, wherein the one or more processors are furtherconfigured to cause the display apparatus to perform: in response to thedisplaying of the recommended content, indicating an action triggered byinformation based on the displayed recommended content related to the atleast one target object.
 17. The display apparatus according to claim16, wherein: the information includes shopping information from athird-party site displayed in another display layer; and the actionindicated includes a purchase action.
 18. The display apparatusaccording to claim 16, wherein: the information includes programinformation displayed in another display layer; and the action indicatedincludes a program scheduling action.
 19. The display apparatusaccording to claim 11, wherein the one or more processors are furtherconfigured to execute the computer instructions to cause the displayapparatus to perform: displaying a share tab for sharing an imagecaptured from the playing-video.
 20. The display apparatus according toclaim 11, wherein the one or more processors are further configured tocause the display apparatus to perform: obtaining a plurality of imagesat different time points; and storing the plurality of images in apreset image storage region.